Japanese broadcaster NHK has premiered the first official trailer for Studio Ghibli's Earwig and the Witch. The upcoming film will be the first fully 3D animated feature from the acclaimed Japanese animation film studio co-founded by Hayao Miyazaki.
The Diana Wynne Jones novel on which the film is based tells the story of a 10-year-old orphan girl named Earwig, who has grown accustomed to having her way ever since being dropped off at St. Morwald's Home for Children as a baby. However, Earwig's world is turned upside down when she's adopted by a woman named Bella Yaga, who turns out to be a cruel witch. Undaunted by the invisible rooms and spells books within her mysterious new home, Earwig sets out to show the witch who's boss using her own wits and with some help from a talking cat.
Goro Miyazaki will direct Earwig and the Witch after having gradually taken over the reins at Studio Ghibli following the retirement of his father Hayao Miyazaki in 2013. The elder Miyazaki, who helmed numerous Studio Ghibli films over the years, including My Neighbor Totoro and Ponyo, is credited for planning and developing Earwig and the Witch. The film, clocking in at 82 minutes long, is scheduled to air on the NHK General channel on the night of Wednesday, December 30. American film distributor GKIDS has acquired the North American distribution rights to the film.
While Earwig and the Witch marks Studio Ghibli's first feature foray into 3D animation, the company has turned to the works of Wynne Jones in the past. Hayao Miyazaki's 2004 film Howl's Moving Castle, which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature, was loosely based on the author's novel of the same name. Goro Miyazaki previously directed Studio Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea and From Up on Poppy Hill.
Studio Ghibli's success story includes holding the title of highest-grossing film in Japan with Spirited Away, a fantasy feature that climbed to the top of the country's box office rankings with $295.5 million in 2001. However, the acclaimed film could be dethroned if Demon Slayer The Movie, currently the second-highest-grossing film in Japan, can earn the nearly $30 million needed to claim the crown.
Earwig and the Witch is scheduled to be released in North American theaters in early 2021.
Source: NHK