Few filmmakers could ever, or would ever, release their new film without any promotion. But few filmmakers are Hayao Miyazaki who released his latest film, The Boy and the Heron, in Japan this summer without so much as a still image, let alone a trailer. It’s coming to theaters in the U.S. later this year and now a teaser is here. But it’s not a traditional teaser.
This teaser has no footage. And is, in fact, a tease at what we can only assume will be an actual trailer timed to the film’s North American debut at the Toronto International Film Festival next week. But you do hear a bit about it and learn more about the story too. It’s kind of the perfect trailer for people who hate trailers.
A press release from GKids, which is releasing the film in the U.S. later this year, calls the above a “pre-teaser” and confirmed that the “first official English language teaser trailer” will in fact debut on September 6.
Gotta say this is both a blessing and a curse. Of course, as big as Hayao Miyazaki is all across the world, no one opens a movie in the United States without promoting it. Not George Lucas, not Steven Spielberg, not anyone. So it was inevitable that something would come out just to let audiences know it was on the calendar. And yet, there was a certain mystery and magic to not even knowing what the film looked like, let alone what the story is. I guess a first look like this, which isn’t a first look at all, is a nice medium.
Written and directed by the Studio Ghibli co-founder behind films such as My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and more, The Boy and the Heron (which is its U.S. title) debuts September 6 in Toronto, followed by a wider release before the end of the year. A date has yet to be announced.
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