UK distributor Altitude Films has released the first official English-language trailer for Mary and the Witch’s Flower — the buzzworthy first feature from Studio Ponoc in Japan. The film is set to bow next year in the UK, and will arrive in the US via GKIDS and Fathom Events with a special premiere event Jan. 18, followed by select theatrical rollout. Tickets on sale now.
The trailer gives us our first taste of the respectable English voice cast as it introduces young Mary, who ignores her friend Peter and ventures into the misty woods. There, she finds a rare flower with a mysterious power, which starts her on an incredible journey to a school of witchcraft which is not as benign as it first seems.
The dub cast features Ruby Barnhill (The BFG) as Mary, Louis Ashbourne Serkis (son of Andy Serkis) as Peter, Kate Winslet as Endor College’s headmistress Madame Mumblechook, Jim Broadbent as Doctor Dee, Ewen Bremner as Flanagan, Lynda Baron as Great-Aunt Charlotte, Morwenna Banks as Miss Banks, Teresa Gallagher as The Red-Haired Witch, Rasmus Hardiker as Zebedee and Rebecca Kidd as the Light Fairy.
Based on the novel The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart, the film is directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi (When Marnie Was There, The Secret World of Arrietty) from a screenplay he wrote with Riko Sakaguchi. David Freedman (Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter, When Marnie Was There) penned the English adaptation.
