When Hayao Miyazaki’s long-awaited and supposed swansong The Boy and the Heron opened at No. 1 at the North American box office last December with a record-breaking $12.8 million tally, it was not only the first original anime title to achieve such a feat, but it was the biggest ever opening for U.S. distributor Gkids. It kickstarted what would be a whirlwind few months for the now 16-year-old company as it took the Studio Ghibli film, (which had opened the Toronto Film Festival in September) to an enormous $46.7 million box office gross (more than double their initial projections) in North America and, later a Best Animation win at the Oscars.
“It was the right film for the right time,” says Gkids president Dave Jesteadt. “The Boy and the Heron was Miyazaki’s first film in 10 years, and I think that a normal concern would have been if audiences had forgotten him,...
“It was the right film for the right time,” says Gkids president Dave Jesteadt. “The Boy and the Heron was Miyazaki’s first film in 10 years, and I think that a normal concern would have been if audiences had forgotten him,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Ghost Cat Anzu (known in Japan as Bakeneko Anzu-chan ), an upcoming Japanese and French theatrical anime film co-production, released a new trailer today alongside information on new cast, the official movie poster, and the official theme song performer. The film releases in Japanese theaters on July 19, 2024. Gkids, who executive produced the film, will also distribute the film in North America this year. The film will also host its world premiere at the 77th Cannes International Film Festival this month. The new cast members for Ghost Cat Anzu include: Tetsuya, Karin's Father voiced / motion-captured by Munetaka Aoki Yuzuki, Karin's Mother voiced / motion-captured by Miwako Ichikawa Osho-san, Anzu's Foster Parent voiced / motion-captured by Keiichi Suzuki (of Moonriders) The God of Poverty voiced / motion-captured by Shingo Mizusawa Tanuki voiced / motion-captured by Wataru Sawabe (of Skirt) Actors Mutsuo Yoshioka and Shohei Uno also appear in the film. Actor and musician Chiaki Sato...
- 5/7/2024
- by Paul Chapman
- Crunchyroll
The official website for the upcoming 48th Annecy International Animation Film Festival has revealed 12 films to compete in this year's official selection of feature films. The lineup includes four Japanese film — Ghost Cat Anzu (French-Japanese co-production) directed by Yoko Kuno, Nobuhiro Yamashita, The Colors Within directed by Naoko Yamada, Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window directed by Shinnosuke Yakuwa, and The Imaginary by Yoshiyuki Momose. The 2024 Annecy International Animation Film Festival Official Selection - Feature films Into the Wonderwoods by Vincent Paronnaud, Alexis Ducard / France, Luxembourg Flow by Gints Zilbalodis / Latvia, Belgium, France Ghost Cat Anzu by Yoko Kuno, Nobuhiro Yamashita / Japan, France The Colors Within by Naoko Yamada / Japan The Most Precious of Cargoes by Michel Hazanavicius / Belgium, France Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window by Shinnosuke Yakuwa / Japan Memoir of a Snail by Adam Elliot / Australia Rock Bottom by María Trénor / Spain, Poland Sauvages by Claude Barras / Switzerland,...
- 4/27/2024
- by Mikikazu Komatsu
- Crunchyroll
Annecy International Animation Film Festival has unveiled the programme for its 2024 edition, including the Competition line-up and a programme of previews from the major studios.
The 12-strong Official Competition includes Adam Elliot’s Australian feature Memoir Of A Snail, in which Succession star Sarah Snook voices a lonely hoarder of ornamental snails; and stop-motion Savages!, director Claude Barras’ first feature since his Bafta- and Oscar-nominated My Life As A Courgette.
Scroll down for the full Competition line-up
The festival will open with Michel Hazanavicius’ Competition title The Most Precious Of Cargoes, heading to Annecy from its debut in Cannes Competition.
The 12-strong Official Competition includes Adam Elliot’s Australian feature Memoir Of A Snail, in which Succession star Sarah Snook voices a lonely hoarder of ornamental snails; and stop-motion Savages!, director Claude Barras’ first feature since his Bafta- and Oscar-nominated My Life As A Courgette.
Scroll down for the full Competition line-up
The festival will open with Michel Hazanavicius’ Competition title The Most Precious Of Cargoes, heading to Annecy from its debut in Cannes Competition.
- 4/26/2024
- ScreenDaily
Organizers of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the world’s oldest and most important animation festival, revealed Thursday that all the big U.S. studio animation players will be in attendance this year to preview some of their most exciting upcoming titles.
Annecy has long been a launch point for global and indie animation, but over the past several years, it has become an increasingly important platform for big studios as well. This year, that trend continues and, indeed, ramps up.
Illumination will continue a popular tradition by hosting a special screening of “Despicable Me 4” in Annecy. The three previous “Despicable” films and the “Minions: The Rise of Gru” spinoff all screened at Annecy, several of them making their world premieres there.
Disney will host sneak peeks of its 2024 animated feature releases: Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” and Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Moana 2.” Paramount Pictures and Hasbro...
Annecy has long been a launch point for global and indie animation, but over the past several years, it has become an increasingly important platform for big studios as well. This year, that trend continues and, indeed, ramps up.
Illumination will continue a popular tradition by hosting a special screening of “Despicable Me 4” in Annecy. The three previous “Despicable” films and the “Minions: The Rise of Gru” spinoff all screened at Annecy, several of them making their world premieres there.
Disney will host sneak peeks of its 2024 animated feature releases: Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” and Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Moana 2.” Paramount Pictures and Hasbro...
- 4/25/2024
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its 2024 edition, running from June 9 to 15. (scroll down for full list of titles and events)
Highlights announced on Thursday include Terry Gilliam as guest of honor to receive an Honorary Cristal and give a masterclass. He joins previously announced honorary guest Wes Anderson.
The main Competition and the Contrechamps sections will showcase 23 new animated features.
Features in the main competition include Oscar-winning director Michel Hazanavicius’ first ever animated feature The Most Precious of Cargoes, which will also open the festival.
The drama follows the fate of baby boy who is thrown from an Auschwitz-bound train by his French-Jewish father. The picture will world premiere first in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Other Cannes films in Annecy’s main competition include Un Certain Regard selection Flow by Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis and Ghost Cat Anzu by Japan’s Yoko Kuno,...
Highlights announced on Thursday include Terry Gilliam as guest of honor to receive an Honorary Cristal and give a masterclass. He joins previously announced honorary guest Wes Anderson.
The main Competition and the Contrechamps sections will showcase 23 new animated features.
Features in the main competition include Oscar-winning director Michel Hazanavicius’ first ever animated feature The Most Precious of Cargoes, which will also open the festival.
The drama follows the fate of baby boy who is thrown from an Auschwitz-bound train by his French-Jewish father. The picture will world premiere first in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Other Cannes films in Annecy’s main competition include Un Certain Regard selection Flow by Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis and Ghost Cat Anzu by Japan’s Yoko Kuno,...
- 4/25/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The Most Precious of Cargoes, the first animated feature from Oscar-winning French director Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), will open this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
The feature is a 2D animated adaptation of the best-selling book by French author Jean-Claude Grumberg. Set during World War II, it tells the story of a French Jewish family deported to Auschwitz. On the train to the death camp, in a desperate gesture, the father throws one of his baby twins out into the snow, where he’s discovered by a childless Polish couple living deep in the forest.
Hazanavicius presented the film as a work-in-progress at Annecy two years ago. French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant narrates the film with voice acting from Dominique Blanc, Denis Podalydès, and Grégory Gadebois. Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat (The Shape of Water) composed the score. Animation is from 3.0 Studio – formerly Prima Linea — the group behind the...
The feature is a 2D animated adaptation of the best-selling book by French author Jean-Claude Grumberg. Set during World War II, it tells the story of a French Jewish family deported to Auschwitz. On the train to the death camp, in a desperate gesture, the father throws one of his baby twins out into the snow, where he’s discovered by a childless Polish couple living deep in the forest.
Hazanavicius presented the film as a work-in-progress at Annecy two years ago. French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant narrates the film with voice acting from Dominique Blanc, Denis Podalydès, and Grégory Gadebois. Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat (The Shape of Water) composed the score. Animation is from 3.0 Studio – formerly Prima Linea — the group behind the...
- 4/25/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The official website for the upcoming anime feature film adaptation of Takashi Imashiro's Ghost Cat Anzu ( Bakeneko Anzu-chan in Japan) manga confirmed today that the film will screen at the Directors’ Fortnight program in the 77th Cannes International Film Festival , set to be held from May 14 to 25, 2024. The "Directors' Fortnight" is a high-profile competition in which films that emphasize auteurism are selected, and is known as a gateway to success for world-class filmmakers, and it will be the film's world premiere screening ahead of its theatrical release in Japan on July 19, 2024. The film is co-produced by Japanese animation studio Shin-Ei Animation ( Doraemon ) and French studio Miyu Production, and is co-directed by Atsuhiro Yamashita — whose recent work is a live-action film adaptation of Yama Wayama's Karaoke Iko! comedy manga — and Yoko Kuno — who worked on the 2015 film The Case of Hana & Alice as rotoscope director. Yamashita posted his...
- 4/17/2024
- by Mikikazu Komatsu
- Crunchyroll
Following the main lineups for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, a handful of sidebar slates have been unveiled, featuring Directors Fortnight, Critics Week, and Acid. Notable highlights include the Sundance favorite Good One (read our review here), Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point starring Michael Cera, the first film in over a decade from James White director Josh Mond, the Christopher Abbott-led It Doesn’t Matter, Eat the Night from Jessica Forever duo Caroline Poggi & Jonathan Vinel, Carson Lund’s Eephus, Patricia Mazuy’s Visting Hours, The Hyperboreans, a new film from The Wolf House directors Cristobal Leo & Joaquin Cocina, Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century follow-up Universal Language, and more.
Check out the lineups below.
Cannes Directors Fortnight
Feature films:
“Ma Vie Ma Gueule,” Sophie Fillieres (France) – opening film
“A Son Image,” Thierry de Peretti (France)
“Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point,” Tyler Taormina (USA)
“Desert of Namibia,...
Check out the lineups below.
Cannes Directors Fortnight
Feature films:
“Ma Vie Ma Gueule,” Sophie Fillieres (France) – opening film
“A Son Image,” Thierry de Peretti (France)
“Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point,” Tyler Taormina (USA)
“Desert of Namibia,...
- 4/16/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Nippon powerhouse Toho has thrown its weight behind directors Yoko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita’s “Ghost Cat Anzu,” overseeing the Japanese release and marking the occasion with a brand-new teaser.
As previously announced, specialty distributor Gkids has already picked up the film for North America, while Charades continues to roll out international sales.
Bringing together Japan’s Shin-Ei Animation and France’s Miyu Productions, the family title tracks the tempestuous friendship shared between 11-year Karin, a strong-minded girl sent to live with her monk granddad in the Japanese countryside, and Anzu, the even-more unpredictable phantom feline who acts as her guardian.
‘Ghost Cat Anzu’
Adapted from Takashi Imashiro’s manga, the animated title will feature the voice talents of Mirai Moriyama as the phantom feline, and Noa Goto as his young charge. The project will hit Japanese screens in July with a North American opening to follow.
Best known his critically acclaimed features,...
As previously announced, specialty distributor Gkids has already picked up the film for North America, while Charades continues to roll out international sales.
Bringing together Japan’s Shin-Ei Animation and France’s Miyu Productions, the family title tracks the tempestuous friendship shared between 11-year Karin, a strong-minded girl sent to live with her monk granddad in the Japanese countryside, and Anzu, the even-more unpredictable phantom feline who acts as her guardian.
‘Ghost Cat Anzu’
Adapted from Takashi Imashiro’s manga, the animated title will feature the voice talents of Mirai Moriyama as the phantom feline, and Noa Goto as his young charge. The project will hit Japanese screens in July with a North American opening to follow.
Best known his critically acclaimed features,...
- 2/26/2024
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
An anime feature film adaptation of Takashi Imashiro's Ghost Cat Anzu ( Bakeneko Anzu-chan in Japan) manga is set to release in Japan in July 2024. Japanese animation studio Shin-Ei Animation ( Doraemon ) and French studio Miyu Production co-work on anime production. The film's Japanese official website has opened, releasing a 30-second teaser trailer and two teaser visuals featuring its two main characters — 11-year-old human girl, Karin, and 37-year-old ghost cat, Anzu. The manga was serialized in Kodansha's children manga magazine Comic BomBom from its August 2006 to November 2007 issues, then compiled in one tankobon volume. The film's official website describes its story as: During a thunderous downpour. A monk at a temple finds a kitten mewling in a cardboard box. The kitten was named Anzu and was carefully brought up. Strangely, however, it did not die even after 10 or 20 years. After 30 years, it somehow became a 'ghost cat' that speaks human language and lives like a human.
- 2/22/2024
- by Mikikazu Komatsu
- Crunchyroll
Specialty distributor Gkids has picked up North American rights to directors Yoko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita’s upcoming animated feature “Ghost Cat Anzu,” while Paris-based Charades has boarded the project for international sales.
Spearheaded by Miyu Productions and Shin-Ei Animation, and adapted from a manga by Takashi Imashiro, the family title tracks the tempestuous friendship shared between 11-year Karin, a strong-minded girl sent to live with her monk granddad in the Japanese countryside, and Anzu, the even-more unpredictable phantom feline who acts as her guardian.
The project will screen as a work-in-progress presentation at this year’s Annecy Animation Festival, and is slated for release in 2024.
“From the moment we saw the first drawings and read the script, we knew we needed to be attached and help get this film into the world,” says Gkids director Eric Beckman. “We are huge fans of Yoku Kuno’s animation, of Shin-Ei, and...
Spearheaded by Miyu Productions and Shin-Ei Animation, and adapted from a manga by Takashi Imashiro, the family title tracks the tempestuous friendship shared between 11-year Karin, a strong-minded girl sent to live with her monk granddad in the Japanese countryside, and Anzu, the even-more unpredictable phantom feline who acts as her guardian.
The project will screen as a work-in-progress presentation at this year’s Annecy Animation Festival, and is slated for release in 2024.
“From the moment we saw the first drawings and read the script, we knew we needed to be attached and help get this film into the world,” says Gkids director Eric Beckman. “We are huge fans of Yoku Kuno’s animation, of Shin-Ei, and...
- 6/12/2023
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
The films of Shunji Iwai present a view of the world in an almost dreamlike manner. That said, no matter how stylized his work can be, he’s never afraid to offer a raw portrait of reality. The youthful years of people’s lives are generally a time of happiness and growth, building memories that, years later, can be looked back on with a happy sense of nostalgia. Yet, the harsh truth is that’s heartbreakingly not always the case, and in a country like Japan, issues such as bullying remain a major problem. Combined with experimental filmmaking, Iwai would make a feature following Japanese youth lost in sorrow and partaking in misguided behavior. That harrowing film is “All About Lily Chou-Chou.”
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
Throughout the 1990s in Japan, music was super popular, and there was a noticeable rise in juvenile delinquency,...
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
Throughout the 1990s in Japan, music was super popular, and there was a noticeable rise in juvenile delinquency,...
- 12/1/2022
- by Sean Barry
- AsianMoviePulse
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