GKIDS Will Release Ghibli’s ‘When Marnie Was There’ in U.S. Theaters

New York-based foreign animation distributor GKIDS has acquired North American rights to When Marnie Was There (Omoide no Marnie), the latest film by Studio Ghibli. The film opened in Japan last July.

Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi (The Secret World of Arrietty) and based on the British children’s novel by Joan G. Robinson, the film follows a young girl who is attracted to an abandoned house and a mysterious girl who appears in its window.

The screenplay was written by Yonebayashi with Keiko Niwa (From Up on Poppy Hill, Secret World of Arrietty) and Masashi Ando, who also designed the characters and directed the animation.

GKIDS will release an English-language version in North American theaters this spring and will qualify the film for 2015 award consideration. Studio Ghibli’s international chief Geoffrey Wexler will produce the English-language version.

GKIDS has released previous Ghibli efforts including From Up on Poppy Hill and The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, as well as the 2014 documentary about the studio, The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness. GKIDS currently handles North American theatrical distribution for the entire Studio Ghibli library.