GKids
- The anime movie "Weathering with You" has made nearly $100 million in Japan and is the country’s tenth-biggest movie of all time since opening last month.
- The Japan Motion Picture Producers Association announced on Monday that "Weathering with You" will be Japan’s entry to compete for the international film Oscar in February.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
The anime movie "Weathering with You" is a huge hit in Japan with nearly $100 million, and one of the country’s biggest movies ever.
Last week, the Japanese distributor Toho announced that it had reached 10 billion Japanese yen, or $94 million, since opening in theaters on July 19. That makes it Japan’s tenth-highest-grossing movie of all time.
The movie is from Makoto Shinkai, the director of "You Name," which is Japan’s highest-grossing animated movie ever with $235 million.
The Japan Motion Picture Producers Association announced on Monday that "Weathering with You" was selected as Japan’s entry to compete for the international film award at the the next Oscars in February.
Here’s how the American distributor GKids, which acquired the movie out of the Cannes Film Festival in May, describes the movie:
"The summer of his high school freshman year, Hodaka runs away from his remote island home to Tokyo, and quickly finds himself pushed to his financial and personal limits. The weather is unusually gloomy and rainy every day, as if to suggest his future. He lives his days in isolation, but finally finds work as a writer for a mysterious occult magazine. Then one day, Hodaka meets Hina on a busy street corner. This bright and strong-willed girl possesses a strange and wonderful ability: the power to stop the rain and clear the sky."
"Weathering with You" will make its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next month and debut in theaters in early 2020.
The movie has a 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes (based on five critics). Australia’s The Age wrote that the movie "is often captivating and always beautiful to look at. The visual approach is paradoxical, in a way which again is familiar from ‘Your Name.’"
The box office in Japan was up by 16% in the first half of 2019, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The increase in moviegoing is thanks in part to government reforms that are giving workers more leisure time, THR reported.
Popular Hollywood movies this year, such as "Aladdin" and "Toy Story 4," have also driven viewers to theaters in Japan, as well as strong releases from Toho.
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Source: Business Insider – tclark@businessinsider.com (Travis Clark)