Philippine film distributor Pioneer Films has announced on Monday the General Release date of Makoto Shinkai’s latest anime feature film Weathering With You.
The much-awaited anime film is scheduled to have its General Release in the country on Wednesday, August 28, in cinemas nationwide. The date announced is in contrast to previously listed date by theater chain SM Cinema, possibly due to scheduling conflicts.
The film distributor has also confirmed to Anime Pilipinas that anime film’s advanced screening is set to happen on Saturday, August 17, at Cinema 11 of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City, which is scheduled to start at 03:00pm.
More details regarding the film’s advanced screening will be announced in the coming days.
High school student Hodaka leaves his home on an isolated island and moves to Tokyo, but he immediately becomes broke. He lives his days in isolation, but finally finds a job as a writer for a shady occult magazine. After he starts his job, the weather has been rainy day after day. In a corner of the crowded and busy city, Hodaka meets a young woman named Hina. Due to certain circumstances, Hina and her younger brother live together, but have a cheerful and sturdy life. Hina also has a certain power: the power to stop the rain and clear the sky. (Synopsis from Anime News Network)
Makoto Shinkai, who created and directed the 2016 romantic fantasy drama anime film your name., has also been credited as the creator, director and screenwriter of the latest film.
Masayoshi Tanaka, who also worked on the highly-popular anime film, was again in charge of character designs.
The popular Japanese band RADWIMPS, who performed the soundtracks of Shinkai’s previous film, also performed the soundtracks for this anime film, which has been available on digital platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music, since last month.
Atsushi Tamura, who worked in Studio Ghibli’s award-winning anime film Spirited Away, is the animation director, and The Garden of Words art director Hiroshi Takiguchi is in charge of the film’s art direction, which was produced by CoMix Wave Films and distributed by TOHO.
The anime film starred Nana Mori, who played “Runa Horibe” in the highly-popular live-action series Mr. Hiiragi’s Homeroom, will portray the character “Hina Amano” and Kotaro Daigo as “Hokoda Morishima”.
They are also joined by a star-studded voice casts, including Shun Oguri, Tsubasa Honda, Chieko Baisho, Sakura Kiryu, Sei Hiraizumi, and Yuuki Kaiji.
Weathering with You opened in Japanese cinemas on July 19, and sold about 1,159,020 tickets to earn JP¥1,643,809,400 (about PHP805 million) in its first three days of screening, where it debut at Number 1 in the Japanese box office.
This is almost 30% more than when Shinkai’s previous film had earned during its opening weekend in 2016.
The anime film is currently ranked Number 1 in the Japanese box office for the third week in a row.
North American film distributor GKIDS already licensed the anime film, where they plan to hold an “awards qualifying” theatrical release later this year, with a wider release in early 2020.
Local film distributors in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore, had also announced their upcoming screenings of the anime film.
