GKIDS has announced that it has acquired the film rights to the entire film catalog for Mamoru Hosoda for the North American market. In a previous report by Variety, the films Summer Wars (2009) and Wolf’s Children (2013) will enter the catalog immediately while The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) and The Boy and the Beast (2015) will be added later this year.
GKIDS’ President David Jesteadt told Variety that one of its early distribution projects was for the 2006 sci-fi film Summer Wars, and that they have already noted how Hosoda cemented his position as one of the most “exciting” animation directors.
We were honored to deepen our relationship with the release of his two latest films, ‘Mirai’ and ‘Belle,’ and are excited to now be able to showcase the full breadth of Hosoda’s ambitious storytelling across his film catalog, featuring some of the most acclaimed and successful Japanese animated films of all time.
Statement from GKIDS’ President David Jesteadt
It is worth noting that the GKIDS-Mamoru Hosoda deal was made between Eric Beckman at GKIDS and Yohann Comte and Carole Baraton at Charades on behalf of Studio Chizu, the studio Hosada founded in 2011. According to GKIDS, the films will receive new theatrical and home entertainment releases which will highlight Hosoda’s unique artistry.
Prior to founding Studio Chizu in 2011 alongside Yuichiro Saito, Mamoru Hosada first worked with Toei Animation, directing titles such as the 1996 GeGeGe no Kitaro anime series, as well as two Digimon Adventure short films, Digimon Adventure (1999) and Digimon Adventure: Our War Game! (2000). He was supposed to direct Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle back in 2001 but eventually stepped down and allowed Hayao Miyazaki to take over. He then returned to Toei but also left it in 2006 as a freelancer. During this time, Hosada directed the 2006 sci-fi film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and then released his first original film, Summer Wars, in 2009.
Hosada’s first work that was produced by Studio Chizu was Wolf Children, followed by The Boy and the Beast, Mirai, and Belle. The latter film, which premiered in July 2021, sold over 1.69 million tickets in just 10 days since its premiere, earning more than 2.4 billion yen (~$21.8 million). It earned around US$64.7 million at the box office, making it Hosada’s biggest movie globally.
Source: GKIDS Official X (Twitter), Press Release
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