Philippines’ largest theater chain SM Cinema has announced on their Facebook page on Thursday that they will be screening the 3D animated movie Stand By Me Doraemon on Wednesday, June 17.
Anime Pilipinas has learned that the movie is distributed by Multivision Pictures Entertainment and VIVA International Pictures, and the anime movie will be screened on most cinema outlets nationwide, unlike other recent titles that are SM Cinema exclusive.
The movie distributor also confirms to Anime Pilipinas that the anime movie will be screened in English dubbing.
Stand By Me Doraemon is the 36th feature film of the popular series, as well as the first one to be produced in 3D computer-generated animation.
Takashi Yamazaki and Ryuuichi Yagi, who previously collaborated on Japan’s first feature-length 3D animated film Friends: Mononoke Shima no Naki, directed Stand by Me. Yamazaki also handled the movie’s screenplay.
The movie was released in Japanese theaters in August last year, which had earned commercial success as it ranked number 1 in the Japanese box office and became the fifth highest grossing Japanese film in 2014, which earned a total of ¥8.38 billion.
The movie also earned numerous animation awards, including 38th Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Animation and 2015 Tokyo Anime Award for Animation of the Year.
Doraemon was originally created by the mangaka pair Fujiko Fujio (composed of Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko) in 1969. Their manga tells the story of a robotic cat named Doraemon who was sent by the grandson of the lead character Nobita from the future to help his woeful grandfather.
The franchise’s running theme is Doraemon’s numerous devices which should supposedly save Nobita from his everyday troubles, but eventually make things worse for the bespectacled boy.
