News
Mary and the Witch's Flower Cinema Screenings on Tuesday, Home Release Listing
posted on by Andrew Osmond
Studio Ponoc's Mary and The Witch's Flower, distributed in the UK and Ireland by Altitude Films, will have subtitled cinema preview screenings on Tuesday April 10, while the main cinema release will follow on May 4. The cinema venues are listed on the film's official website (click 'Get Tickets').
In addition, Anime UK News reports that Amazon is listing a home release of the film in DVD, Blu-ray and Steelbook Blu-ray formats on September 10. According to the listing, the home editions will be released by Altitude Film Distribution.
All three editions list extras including the Film Completion Press Conference, the Theatrical Promotional Movie, and an interview with the director Hiromasa Yonebayashi and the producer and Studio Ponoc founder Yoshiaki Nishimura. The two Blu-ray editions also list an NTV Special called 'Creating Mary and The Witch's Flower' and an extra called 'A Special Conversation: SEKAI NO OWARI, Hiromasa Yonebayashi, and Yoshiaki Nishimura'. (SEKAI NO OWARI' is the pop group which provided the film's theme, "Rain".) The Steelbook edition also lists a booklet and art cards.
The film opened in Japan last July and has earned 3 billion yen (US$28 million). Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who directed Studio Ghibli's Arrietty and When Marnie Was There, directed Mary and The Witch's Flower, and also penned the script for the film alongside Riko Sakaguchi, who wrote the screenplay for Isao Takahata's The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. Takatsugu Muramatsu (When Marnie Was There) composed the music. Yoshiaki Nishimura is credited as producer. The staff page on the film's website further noted that many former staff from Studio Ghibli joined Ponoc in the film's production.
The BFG's Ruby Barnhill stars in the dub as the titular character Mary, and Kate Winslet (Titanic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Mountain Between Us) plays school chairwoman Madam Mumblechook. Jim Broadbent, who co-starred with Winslet in Iris, plays Mumblechook's colleague Doctor Dee. Other cast members include Ewen Bremner, Lynda Baron, Rasmus Hardiker, Teresa Gallagher, Morwenna Banks, and Louis Ashbourne Serkis.
The film is based on Mary Stewart's book The Little Broomstick. Studio Ponoc scouted locations in Shropshire, U.K., the setting of the original novel. The Japanese version stars Hana Sugisaki (When Marnie Was There, live-action Blade of the Immortal) as Mary and Ryunosuke Kamiki (The Secret World of Arrietty's Sho, your name.'s Taki) as Peter.
