GKIDS announced this Thursday (23) that it has licensed the new anime Weathering With You (Tenki no Ko), by Makoto Shinkai. The film will have an “awards qualifying” theatrical screening this year, with a wider theatrical release planned for early 2020 with English subtitles and screenings.
The film will open in Japan on July 19. Shinkai confirmed that the film will have a worldwide release, and release dates have already been decided for North America, Europe, Asia, and South America.
In April of this year, the first trailer for Weathering With You, the new film by Makoto Shinkai (Your Name), was released. The video introduces the couple Hodaka and Hina.
GKIDS describes the film:
In the summer of his first year of high school, Hokoda flees his remote island home, Tokyo, and quickly finds himself pushed to his financial and personal limits. The weather is exceptionally gloomy and rainy every day, as if foreshadowing his future. He lives his days in isolation, but finally finds work as a writer for a mysterious occult magazine. Then, one day, Hokoda meets Hina on a busy street corner. This bright and strong girl possesses a strange and wonderful ability: the power to stop the rain and clear the sky…
Shinkai is credited with the original work, and is also directing and writing the screenplays for the film for CoMix Wave Films. Masayoshi Tanaka (Your Name, anohana, The Anthem of the Heart) is designing the characters, Atsushi Tamura (The Cat Returns, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin) is the animation director, and Hiroshi Takiguchi (The Garden of Words, Ajin) is the art director. STORY inc. is credited as the production company, and TOHO will distribute the film. RADWIMPS is performing the film's theme song and providing the music for the film. Shinkai is also preparing a new film adaptation, which will be available in digital and print formats on July 18.
The film will star Kotaro Daigo as Hokoda Morishima and Nana Mori as Hina Amano.
Your Name, a film by Shinkai, premiered in Japan in August 2016 and became the fourth highest-grossing film of all time in Japan, the second highest-grossing Japanese film, and the second highest-grossing anime film, earning over 25 billion yen (approximately US$225 million). It is the highest-grossing anime film worldwide, having earned over US$355 million.
Source: ANN