Film distributor Toho announced its 2014 lineup on Thursday, and revealed that Studio Ghibli's next film will be an adaptation of Joan G. Robinson's English children's novel classic When Marnie Was There (Omoide no Marnie) next summer. Hiromasa Yonebayashi is returning to direct his second film after 2010's The Secret World of Arrietty.

Amazon posted a publisher's description of the novel:

Anna hasn't a friend in the world - until she meets Marnie among the sand dunes. But Marnie isn't all she seems...An atmospheric ghost story with truths to tell about friendship, families and loneliness. Anna lives with foster parents, a misfit with no friends, always on the outside of things. Then she is sent to Norfolk to stay with old Mr and Mrs Pegg, where she runs wild on the sand dunes and around the water. There is a house, the Marsh House, which she feels she recognises - and she soon meets a strange little girl called Marnie, who becomes Anna's first ever friend. Then one day, Marnie vanishes. A new family, the Lindsays, move into the Marsh House. Having learnt so much from Marnie about friendship, Anna makes firm friends with the Lindsays - and learns some strange truths about Marnie, who was not all she seemed...

The novel is one of the 50 books that Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki recommended in a list he created for children. In September, Miyazaki announced his retirement from feature films after his 11th film, The Wind Rises.

The film's website has the tagline, "There is a magical circle invisible to the naked eye in this world."

Keiko Niwa (Ocean Waves, From Up On Poppy Hill, The Secret World of Arrietty), Masashi Ando (character designer on Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Paprika), and Yonebayashi co-wrote the screenplay, and Takatsugu Muramatsu (Hime Chen! Otogi Chikku Idol Lilpri) is scoring the soundtrack.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web via tsk06