As previously reported, Philippine film distributor Pioneer Films has announced on Monday that the general release of Makoto Shinkai’s latest anime film Weathering With You is scheduled to start on Wednesday, August 28.
At the same time, Philippine theater chain SM Cinema has opened bookings for its advanced screening, also known as a “Fan’s Screening”, which is scheduled for Saturday, August 17, at Cinema 11 of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.
Attendees of the “Fan’s screening” will have a film-themed umbrella as a freebie.
As of 06:52pm last Wednesday, just a little over 48 hours later, all tickets for the “Fan’s screening” was sold out.
Pioneer Films is not confirming at the moment if they are planning to open another time for the advanced screening, when asked a representative of the film distributor, but they have opened an online poll which may mean they are considering it.
Anime Pilipinas also asked the representative on why they decided to move Weathering With You’s general release date, which was initially scheduled on August 21, as listed by SM Cinema.
The representative told us there is “too much competition” from major distributors on the previous announced date, saying “more cinemas can accomodate us on the 28th, especially in the provinces.”
The film distributor also hopes that movie goers will watch the movie as soon as possible, because the management can pull out the movie from their cinemas if they did not perform well.
According to industry website IMDb, films that are scheduled to be released on August 21 are Western films “Ready or Not” and “Angel has Fallen”, Filipino films “Just a Stranger” and “Mina-Anud”, and the animated film “The Angry Birds Movie 2”.
Quentin Tarantino’s latest film “Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood” is also scheduled to premiere in Philippine cinemas on August 28, but the distributor believes that the anime film has a good fight because “[Weathering With You] is really a good film, it has potential”.
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”.
