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Encore Films Screens 2nd Sumikko Gurashi Film in Singapore
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Encore Films announced on Tuesday that it will screen the Sumikkogurashi: The Little Wizard in the Blue Moonlight (Eiga Sumikko Gurashi: Aoi Tsukiyo no Mahō no Ko) anime film. Encore Films did not reveal an opening date for the film.
The film opened in Japan on November 5, and sold about 200,000 tickets to earn about 250 million yen (about US$2.22 million) in its first three days. The film has so far earned a total of 951,869,980 yen (about US$8.38 million).
Takahiro Ōmori (Durarara!!, Natsume's Book of Friends, Princess Jellyfish) directed the film. Reiko Yoshida (Violet Evergarden, Lu over the wall, K-ON!) penned the script, and Kaori Hino (Modest Heroes, Napping Princess) returned from the first film as the art director. Fanworks returned to animate the film, and ASMIK Ace is distributing.
In the film's story, the main characters go on a camping trip one day in the fall, and that night they recall a legend: that once every five years, on the night of a large and blue full moon, magical creatures will visit the town. The characters look up, only to see a large and blue moon overhead.
Sumikko Gurashi debuted in 2012 as slightly negative characters who like to stay in the corner of a room. The characters include "Shirokuma," a polar bear who is sensitive to cold; "Penguin?" (with a question mark in its name), a penguin who is unsure if it is actually a penguin; "Tonkatsu," a piece of pork cutlet that was left uneaten; "Neko," a shy cat; and "Tokage," who hides his nature as one of the last dinosaurs.
The first anime film, titled Sumikkogurashi – Good to be in the corner, opened in Japan in November 2019. The film ranked at #3 in its opening weekend. The film eventually sold a total of 1.22 million tickets, and it earned 1.4 billion yen (about US$12.8 million) at the box office in Japan as of February 2020. The film won the award for Best Animation of the Year at the 29th Annual Japan Movie Critics Awards in June 2020. Encore Films screened the film in Singapore in November 2020 with both English and Japanese audio.
