English distributor GKIDS who has been responsible in recent years for Studio Ghibli’s theatrical distribution in the west has announced Earwig and The Witch will premiere in select theaters February 3rd.

GKIDs announced the western theatrical release of Earwig and The Witch on their official Twitter page. In the same tweet GKIDS announced the film would also be coming to the HBOMax streaming service two days later on February 5th.

Earwig and The Witch is Studio Ghibli’s first ever fully 3D animated film. The movie premiered December 30th in Japan as a direct to TV film.

The film is based off the novel of the same name from author Diana Wynne Jones. This isn’t Jones’ first Ghibli picture after 2004’s Howl’s Moving Castle which was based off her 1986 novel of the same name.

A summary of the book via publisher Harper Collins is available to read below.

‘Not every orphan would love living at St. Morwald’s Home for Children, but Earwig does. She gets whatever she wants, whenever she wants it, and it’s been that way since she was dropped on the orphanage doorstep as a baby. But all that changes the day Bella Yaga and the Mandrake come to St. Morwald’s, disguised as foster parents. Earwig is whisked off to their mysterious house full of invisible rooms, potions, and spell books, with magic around every corner. Most children would run in terror from a house like that . . . but not Earwig. Using her own cleverness—with a lot of help from a talking cat—she decides to show the witch who’s boss.’ “

The New York-based distributor announced their acquisition of Earwig and The Witch late last year. GKIDS regularly schedules theatrical screenings of Studio Ghibli films during their annual Studio Ghibli Fest.

Earwig and The Witch is directed by Goro Miyazaki, the son of Studio Ghibli mainstay Hayao Miyazaki.