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Belle Overtakes Boy and the Beast as Highest-Grossing Mamoru Hosoda Film
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu's new BELLE (Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime, literally "The Dragon and the Freckled Princess") anime film has earned a cumulative total of 5.87 billion yen (about US$53.4 million) and has sold 4.23 million tickets as of Friday, 57 days after it opened in Japan. The film has now overtaken Hosoda's The Boy and The Beast film (which earned 5.85 billion yen) to become the highest-grossing film from Hosoda.
BELLE opened in Japan on July 16, and topped the box office for three consecutive weekends. The film has IMAX screenings in 38 theaters throughout Japan. This makes BELLE the first of Hosoda's films to have IMAX screenings. GKIDS licensed the film for North America, and will release the film in English and in Japanese with English subtitles this winter.
Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, The Boy and The Beast, Mirai) directed and scripted the film, and is also credited for the original work. The film marks Studio Chizu's 10th anniversary. Taisei Iwasaki (Blood Blockade Battlefront, Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan, The Naked Director) is the film's music director and composer.
Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
