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GKIDS to Release The Boy and The Beast Film on 4K UHD

GKIDS announced on Wednesday that it will release Mamoru Hosoda's The Boy and The Beast anime film on 4K UHD for the first time, as well as on Blu-ray Disc with distribution by Shout! Studios on March 17. The Limited Edition 4K UHD SteelBook will be exclusively on Amazon.

The release will include a “Making Of The Boy and The Beast” video, a promotional video collection, cast commentary, key staff commentary, teasers, and trailers.

The new collection is part of GKIDS' series of 4K UHD releases of Hosoda's earlier films.

Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures screened the film in select theaters in the U.S. on August 18 for one-day-only. 

The The Boy and The Beast film debuted at #1 in the Japanese box-office in July 2015. The film eventually surpassed the total box office earnings of Hosoda's previous film, Wolf Children, and was the second-highest grossing domestic film in Japan in 2015.

Funimation opened the film in U.S. theaters in March 2016, and it describes the film:

When Kyuta, a young orphan living on the streets of Shibuya, stumbles into a fantastic world of beasts, he's taken in by Kumatetsu, a gruff, rough-around-the-edges warrior beast who's been searching for the perfect apprentice. Despite their constant bickering, Kyuta and Kumatetsu begin training together and slowly form a bond as surrogate father and son. But when a deep darkness threatens to throw the human and beast worlds into chaos, the strong bond between this unlikely pair will be put to the ultimate test—a final showdown that will only be won if the two can finally work together using all of their combined strength and courage.

Hosoda (Summer Wars, Wolf Children) created and scripted the movie. The film was Hosoda's first film since 2012, when his relatively new animation movie company Studio Chizu revealed Wolf Children as its first project. Masakatsu Takagi (Wolf Children) scored the soundtrack.

Source: Press release