The Studio Ghibli Fest, which has some of the legendary anime maker’s most popular movies simulcast in U.S. theaters for two days each month through November, is adding a third screening monthly, presenters GKIDS and Fathom Events announced.
The additional screenings come as a result of “the overwhelming success” of the first two Studio Ghibli Fest films, My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service, according to a joint release from the companies.
Held the last Sunday and Monday of each month, the fest has featured an anime dubbed in English the first day and presented in its original Japanese with English subtitles the second day. The added dates are on Wednesdays, when dubbed versions of the films will be shown.
The next engagement is Castle in the Sky this Sunday at 12:55 p.m. and Monday and Wednesday at 7 p.m. The first Studio Ghibli anime to be released, the 1986 adventure flick from studio co-founder Hayao Miyazaki concerns a young girl with a mysterious crystal pendant. She falls out of the sky and into the arms of a young mechanic obsessed with aircraft; together, they search for a floating island in the sky and site of a long-dead civilization promising enormous wealth and power to those who can unlock its secrets. Click here for tickets to the screening closest to you.
Studio Ghibli Fest continues, generally at the same theaters, with: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Sept. 24, 25, 27); Spirited Away (Oct. 29, 30; Nov. 1); and Howl’s Moving Castle (Nov. 26, 27, 29). Besides the main features, all of which were directed by Miyazaki, each screening includes an exclusive GKIDS Minifest of award-winning short animated films from around the world.
More information about the fest is available at www.FathomEvents.com.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.