The Wall Street Journal revealed that Disney will screen Studio Ghibli's The Secret World of Arrietty in over 1,200 American theaters on February 17. The release will be the largest American release of any Ghibli film to date, topping Ponyo's 927 screens in 2009 and Howl's Moving Castle's 202 theaters in 2005.

According to dub producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy, the film's marketing will be widened to appeal to fans of Mary Norton's The Borrowers, upon which Arietty was based.