Crunchyroll has scored a major anime coup, securing worldwide distribution rights to Makoto Shinkai’s mysterious next feature film! Here’s everything we know about the highly anticipated project so far.
Crunchyroll has landed a major anime coup, acquiring the worldwide distribution rights to the next feature film from acclaimed filmmaker Makoto Shinkai! The deal will see Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment join forces to co-distribute Shinkai’s highly anticipated new movie across the globe, with the exception of Asia, where the deal excludes all territories except India.
Shinkai is one of the most influential and successful directors in modern animation, having captivated audiences worldwide with stunning films including Your Name, Weathering With You, and Suzume. Needless to say, expectations are already sky-high for whatever magical adventure he has waiting in the wings. For now, however, the mystery box remains firmly sealed. Plot details, the film’s official title, and its release date are all being kept under wraps. And honestly, we wouldn’t have it any other way!
SUZUME
Most recently, Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures previously partnered on the global distribution of Shinkai’s Suzume (2023), which grossed over $300 million worldwide and received critical acclaim, including a Golden Globe nomination. Suzume premiered in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival—the first anime feature to do so in decades—further cementing Shinkai’s status as a globally recognized auteur.
FILMOGRAPHY
Shinkai’s prior works – including Your Name. and Weathering With You – have achieved both major commercial success and international recognition, helping to redefine the global reach of Japanese animation. Your Name. (2016) became a worldwide phenomenon and one of the highest-grossing anime films of all time, while Weathering With You (2019) was Japan’s official submission for the Academy Awards® for Best International Feature Film.
Makoto Shinkai was born in Nagano Prefecture in 1973. In 2002, he debuted his self-produced short film Voices of a Distant Star, which won numerous awards, beginning at the Tokyo International Anime Fair 21. In 2004 he created his first full-length movie The Place Promised in Our Early Days to great acclaim, which went on to win Best Animated Film at the 59th Mainichi Film Concours. In 2007, he released 5 Centimeters Per Second, which won Best Animated Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, as well as the Lancia Platinum Grand Prize at Italy’s Future Film Festival. In 2011 Children Who Chase Lost Voices was released in theaters nationwide and presented internationally as a work unlike the world had ever seen before, winning the “Golden Monkey King” Award at the 8th China International Cartoon and Animation Festival. In 2012 he received a Letter of Appreciation from the Cabinet Secretariat’s National Policy Unit as one of the “Global Messengers of Japan”. In 2013 he released, The Garden of Words, which won Best Anime Feature Film in Germany’s Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film. Also that year he was awarded the Shinmai Select Prize.
AWARDS
In 2016, Your Name. was released to great commercial success, becoming the second-highest-grossing Japanese film. At the 40th Japan Academy Film Prize, it won the awards for Excellent Director of the Year and Screenplay of the Year, a first for an animated film. Also critically acclaimed overseas, it won many awards, including Best Animated Feature-Length Film at the 49th Sitges Film Festival and Best Animated Film at the 42nd Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards.
In 2019, Weathering With You won Animation of the Year at the 43rd Japan Academy Film Prize and was selected as the Japanese entry for Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards. 2022’s Suzume marked his third film in a row with over 10 million domestic attendees. It also received high domestic and international regard, being selected for competition at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival and nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the 81st Golden Globe Awards.
RELEASE
With Shinkai behind the camera and Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment handling its worldwide distribution, this is one anime feature we’re going to be watching very closely. Stay tuned to Future of the Force for all the latest updates as this exciting project takes shape!
Collectables and Anime Editor for Future Of The Force.
Star Wars expert and Japan connoisseur.
