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Mamoru Hosoda's Belle Film Opens With 890 Million Yen

Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu's new BELLE (Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime, literally "The Dragon and the Freckled Princess") anime film earned more than 890 million yen (about US$8.09 million) and sold more than 600,000 tickets in its first three days. The film topped Japan's box office chart for the weekend of July 17-18. The film opened in Japan last Friday. To celebrate the film's opening, the film's staff unveiled a third visual for the film.

The film has IMAX screenings in 38 theaters throughout Japan. This makes BELLE the first of Hosoda's films to have IMAX screenings.

France's Cannes Film Festival first screened the film in the festival's Cannes Premiere section last Thursday. It marked the first Official Selection at the festival for Hosoda. (The director's previous Mirai film screened at the Directors' Fortnight, an independent section held in parallel to the festival, in 2018.)

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) is directing and scripting 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.

Eric Wong, a London-based architect and designer, created the concept artwork for the film's online world of U. Jin Kim (Frozen, Tangled, Big Hero 6, Moana) designed the titular protagonist Belle.

Sources: The Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web, BELLE film's Twitter account, Kōgyō Tsūshin