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Neofilms Streams 2nd Chinese-, English-Subtitled Trailer for Hosoda's Mirai Film
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Hong Kong film distributor Neofilms began streaming a Chinese- and English-subtitled video for Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu's new Mirai no Mirai (Mirai of the Future) anime film on Tuesday. Neofilms will open the film in Hong Kong on August 23.
The film had its world premiere in May at this year's Directors' Fortnight, an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival.
The film opened in 456 theaters on July 20 in Japan, after previously being announced with a May release date. It also screened in competition at Annecy in June. The movie has a 100-minute runtime. It sold 295,000 tickets for 500 million yen (about US$4.5 million) to rank #2 in its opening weekend. The weekend earnings were about 40% less than the opening weekend gross of Hosoda's previous The Boy and The Beast film, which earned 667,035,100 yen (about US$5.4 million) in its opening weekend. The film has now earned a cumulative total of 1,637,108,000 yen (about US$14.71 million) as of August 5.
The previously announced cast includes:
(From left to right in top row in image above)
- Moka Kamishiraishi as KUN-chan
- Haru Kuroki as MiRai-chan
(From left to right in bottom row in image above)
- Yoshiko Miyazaki as Grandmother
- Gen Hoshino as Father
- Kōji Yakusho as Grandfather
- Kumiko Asou as Mother
- Mitsuo Yoshihara as Mysterious Man
Musician Masaharu Fukuyama also played a character credited as "young man" (seen below) in the film. The character is a "key person" in the protagonist KUN-chan's journey through time.
Yamashita performed the film's opening song "Mirai no Theme," as well as the ending theme song "Uta no Kisha" (Train of Song).
International sales banner CHARADES represented the film at Cannes in 2017, and has sold distribution rights to GKIDS in the United States, MK2 Mile End in Canada, Anime Limited in the United Kingdom, and Madman Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand. As of April 17, the film is slated to open in 86 countries. Producer Yuichiro Saito previously stated that the deals for distribution include a requirement to screen the film in theaters first, in addition to broadcast and streaming rights.
The film's story centers around a family living in a small house in an obscure corner of a certain city — in particular, the family's spoiled four-year-old boy KUN-chan. When KUN-chan gets a little sister named Mirai, he feels that his new sister stole his parents' love from him, and is overwhelmed by many experiences he undergoes for the first time in his life. In the midst of it all, he meets an older version of Mirai, who has come from the future.
Hosoda directed the film at his Studio Chizu, and is also credited as scriptwriter and for the original story. Hiroyuki Aoyama (animation director of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, and The Boy and The Beast) and Ayako Hata (key animator on the same films) returned for this new film as animation directors. Yohei Takamatsu and Takashi Omori, who Hosoda had previously worked with on The Boy and The Beast, also returned as art directors for the film. Producer Yuichiro Saito also returned from Hosoda's earlier films.
Hosoda also penned a novelization of the film. Kadokawa shipped the novel in three different versions. The company's Kadokawa Bunko literature label shipped first on June 15, followed by the version from the Kadokawa Tsubasa Bunko juvenile fiction label on June 30, and then the version for the Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko light novel label on July 1.
