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Mamoru Hosoda's Belle Film Streams 1st 3 Minutes
posted on by Alex Mateo
The official website for Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu's new BELLE (Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime, literally "The Dragon and the Freckled Princess") anime film began streaming the film's first three minutes on YouTube on Friday at 10:15 a.m. EDT. The video will be available for 48 hours. The scene depicts BELLE performing in the online world of U.
The website also streamed the 10th making-of BELLE video.
The film aired a collaboration commercial with Craft Boss Coffee.
The film will open in Japan on July 16. France's Cannes Film Festival will first screen the film in the festival's Cannes Premiere section on July 15. This marks the first Official Selection at the festival for Hosoda. (The director's previous Mirai film screened at the Directors' Fortnight, an independent section held in parallel to the festival, in 2018.)
GKIDS licensed the film for North America, and will release the film in English and in Japanese with English subtitles this winter. The film will have IMAX screenings in 38 theaters throughout Japan. This makes BELLE the first of Hosoda's films to have IMAX screenings.
Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars,The Boy and The Beast, Mirai) is directing and scripting the film, and is also credited for the original work. The film marks Studio Chizu's 10th anniversary. Taisei Iwasaki (Blood Blockade Battlefront, Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan, The Naked Director) is the film's music director and composer.
Eric Wong, a London-based architect and designer, created the concept artwork for the film's online world of U. Jin Kim (Frozen, Tangled, Big Hero 6, Moana) designed the titular protagonist Belle. Singer-songwriter Kaho Nakamura will play the protagonist Suzu/Belle.
Sources: BELLE anime's website, Comic Natalie
