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Pioneer Films Sets Tentative December 14 Opening Date for 'your name.'

Philippine film distributor Pioneer Films announced on Tuesday that it has a tentative opening date of December 14 for its showing of Makoto Shinkai's your name. (Kimi no Na wa.) anime film. Pioneer Films stated that the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) may affect the film's screening schedule.

The MMFF prohibits the screening of foreign films in the Philippines for its duration (usually December 25 to January 7) to facilitate the screening of local films. Only 3D, 4DX, and IMAX theaters are exempt from the ban on foreign films during this time period.

your name. opened in Japan on August 26. As of Sunday, the film has earned 19,492,000,000 yen (about US$174 million), surpassing the 19.3 billion yen earnings of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke anime film. The film has also sold 14,986,000 tickets.

your name. is now the the sixth highest-grossing film of all time in Japan, the third highest-grossing Japanese film in Japan, and the third highest-grossing anime film in Japan. The two highest-grossing Japanese films in Japan include Spirited Away (30.8 billion yen) and Howl's Moving Castle (19.6 billion yen). Shinkai's your name. is projected to possibly approach 20 billion yen (US$200 million).

Shinkai's latest film had topped the Japanese charts for nine straight weekends since it opened on August 26, and in its 10th weekend dropped to #2 to Death Note Light up the NEW world, before regaining the top spot in its 11th weekend. The film stayed at the top spot in its 12th and 13th weekends, and fell to #2 again in its 14th weekend, losing the top spot to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The film's "story of miracles and love" revolves around Mitsuha and Taki. Mitsuha is a female high school student who lives in a rural town nestled deep in the mountains. Her father is the mayor and isn't at home much, and she lives with her elementary school-aged little sister and her grandmother. Mitsuha has an honest personality, but she doesn't like the customs of her family's Shinto shrine, nor does she like her father participating in an election campaign. She laments that she lives in a confined rural town, and yearns for the wonderful lifestyle of living in Tokyo.

Taki is a male high school student who lives in central Tokyo. He spends time with his friends, works part-time at an Italian restaurant, and is interested in architecture and fine arts. One day, Mitsuha has a dream where she is a young man. Taki also has a dream where he is a female high school student in a town in the mountains that he has never been to. What is the secret to their dreams of personal experience?