Netflix introduced on Thursday that it has signed an unique multi-film distribution take care of Studio Ponoc, the Japanese animation home billed because the inheritor to Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata’s famed Studio Ghibli. That deal means Netflix plans to distribute Ponoc’s upcoming anime movie The Imaginary around the globe later this yr, after the movie’s unique Japanese premiere.
Based by Ghibli vet Yoshiaki Nishimura shortly after Studio Ghibli introduced an impending shutdown in 2014, Studio Ponoc makes animated movies and shorts in a visible and narrative type similar to Ghibli’s. Its first characteristic, 2017’s Mary and the Witch’s Flower, is about as near a Miyazaki movie as anybody has managed with out being Miyazaki himself. Ponoc’s follow-up, the 2018 shorts compilation Modest Heroes, was extra experimental, conveying the sense of a studio looking for its personal distinct identification.
Since then, Studio Ponoc has largely been quiet, aside from producing the lovely Olympics-inspired animated short “Tomorrow’s Leaves” and popping up with animation help credit on numerous anime options, together with Mamoru Hosoda’s hit Mirai and Miyazaki’s personal characteristic The Boy and the Heron.
Netflix’s press launch says that the platform will turn into “the exclusive streaming home of upcoming Studio Ponoc films.” That deal doesn’t at the moment embrace Mary and the Witch’s Flower or Modest Heroes, which each beforehand streamed on Netflix, and are actually out there for digital rental by a wide range of companies.
Studio Ponoc’s movie The Imaginary, primarily based on a 2014 novel by British writer A.F. Harrold, is an journey a few younger woman and her imaginary buddy, and in regards to the world and life cycles of imaginary buddies. It’s directed by Yoshiyuki Momose, who helmed “Tomorrow’s Leaves” and the “Life Ain’t Gonna Lose” quick in Modest Heroes. Right here’s Netflix’s description:
Studio Ponoc’s The Imaginary portrays the depths of humanity and creativity by the eyes of younger Amanda and her imaginary companion, Rudger. Their fantastical adventures, launched from her attic, make them uncover a magical world of creatures and locations by no means earlier than seen till a sinister power threatens to destroy their imaginary world and the friendship inside it. Directed by famend animator Yoshiyuki Momose (Spirited Away), The Imaginary is an unforgettable journey of affection, loss, and the therapeutic energy of creativeness.
The Imaginary is at the moment set for Japanese launch on Dec. 15.
