On Friday, Studio Ghibli shared the first look at their upcoming first 3DCGI featured film “Ayo to Majo” (Ayo and the witch) through a new key visual and preview stills. Have a look:
Director Garo Miyazaki, son of Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki, commented that Japan has many adults but few children, so it is tough to be a child today. He was pondering this when he first encountered the character Earwig. It was then that he realised that she would be ideal for these times, as he imagined how she would deal with troublesome adults. The director hopes “from the bottom of my heart that our cheeky, yet cute, Earwig will encourage children — and cheer adults up.”
Ayo to Majo adapts Diana Wynee Jones’s novel Earwig and and the witch. It is reported with 82-minutes screen length which will premiere on NHK-G in Japan this winter. Goro Miyazaki is directing the movie while his father Hayao Miyazaki overseeing planning and developing the movie project. Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki is producing the film and Wild Bunch international a French film distributer is serving as its international sale agent.
Novel publisher HarperCollins describes the story:
“Not every orphan would love living at St. Morwald’s Home for Children, but Earwig does. She gets whatever she wants, whenever she wants it, and it’s been that way since she was dropped on the orphanage doorstep as a baby. But all that changes the day Bella Yaga and the Mandrake come to St. Morwald’s, disguised as foster parents. Earwig is whisked off to their mysterious house full of invisible rooms, potions, and spell books, with magic around every corner. Most children would run in terror from a house like that . . . but not Earwig. Using her own cleverness—with a lot of help from a talking cat—she decides to show the witch who’s boss.”
Studio Ghibli also adapter Jones’s Howl Moving castle in 2004 which earned an Academy award nomination for best animation featured.
Studio Ghibli also adapter Jones’s Howl Moving castle in 2004 which earned an Academy award nomination for best animation featured.
