Throughout the decades, Studio Ghibli’s grown a passionate fanbase from its run of movies like My Friend Totoro and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. Unlike its previous work, the studio’s next film Kimi-tachi wa Dō Ikiru ka (or How Do You Live?) is famously playing its marketing close to the vest beyond one single poster. And now it also has another interesting trait that separates it from earlier Ghibli films: it’s coming to IMAX.
Anime News Network reported that How Do You Live? will have multiple screenings in various formats, with the much-touted IMAX being among them. Beyond that, the site claims that the film will be viewable in Dolby Atmos, Dolby Cinema (which Ghibli confirmed on Twitter), and DTS:X. At time of writing, this only applies for the film’s release in Japan next week on July 14. An international release date for the movie hasn’t been given, so it’s unclear if it’ll play in IMAX theaters around the world.
Even so, it’s still a big deal in its own way. Up until this point, previous Ghibli movies have had standard (and cheaper) screenings during their theatrical runs. So bringing the movie to IMAX makes it feel like something of an event, which it may well be since it’s reportedly the final film from longtime Ghibli filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki will be working on. (Yeah, we’ve heard that before, but it’s apparently meant to stick this time.) Hopefully IMAX is in the cards for a worldwide release—given the growing popularity of animated films from Japan, and the studio’s own clout, it would definitely catch some attention.
How Do You Live? releases in Japan on July 14.
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