Madman Entertainment has secured Australia and New Zealand release rights to Mary and the Witch’s Flower, the debut feature from Studio Ponoc, the Japanese animation house founded by former Ghibli Studio producer Yoshiaki Nishimura and director Hiromasa Yonebayashi. The duo were the driving force behind the 2015 Oscar®-nominated When Marnie Was There.
Currently in post-production, the screenplay has been written by Riko Sakaguchi (The Tale of the Princess Kagyua, The Little Maestro) in collaboration with Yonebayashi.
Madman has been fortunate to represent the great films that Yonebayashi-san and Nishimura-san have been involved in to date and we are thrilled to be working with Studio Ponoc on this exciting new project,” said Madman managing director, Tim Anderson.
Mary and the Witch’s Flower is the film adaptation of the beloved novel by Mary Stewart, The Little Broomstick. Mary, bored and lonely while spending the summer with her great aunt, follows an odd cat into the nearby woods. There she stumbles upon flowers imbued with a magical juice that transforms Mary’s humble little broomstick. Whisking her above the clouds, the broomstick takes her to a secret place where she finds Endor College – a school of magic
A release date for Mary and the Witch’s Flower will be confirmed soon.
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