As of today, you can catch the anime film The Deer King on the big screen in America. It’s the product of Masashi Ando, whose past credits include work on Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Your Name and others. The Deer King marks his first film in a directorial position, and it’s being distributed in the States by GKIDS.
We’ve written about the Studio Ghibli movies many, many times on this site, and for good reason, but there’s one that you might know nothing about, and that’s because it technically predates the studio itself. Panda! Go Panda! was an anime movie created by two of the founders of Ghibli, before there was a Ghibli.
Masashi Ando, whose past credits include work on Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Your Name and others, has graduated into a directorial position with his first animated feature, The Deer King. The film has now been confirmed for a theatrical release in the States courtesy of GKIDS.
Takayuki Hirao’s animated film Pompo the Cinephile is being given the big-screen treatment for its US debut, thanks to distributor GKids. And there’s no wait — the day of release is TODAY, so you can see it in mere hours (assuming one of the showings is close enough to where you are right now).
Mamoru Hosoda has directed some of the finest anime films of the past few years…Summer Wars, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, The Boy and The Beast, Wolf Children and more. His next big project, Belle, is about to hit theaters…but you can watch it for free today! The first few minutes of it, anyway…
If you’ve never gotten the chance to see Miyazaki’s finest on the big screen, your chance is coming up soon. Studio Ghibli Fest 2021 is coming this fall courtesy of GKIDS and Fathom Events. From October through December, four of Ghibli’s most iconic pictures will be screened for a couple of nights only. Both dubbed and subbed versions will be available, on different nights. Here’s when you can catch each one…
The theaters are opening back up, and so is the schedule for anime distributor GKIDS. Since you more than likely missed the original theatrical debuts of films like Weathering With You and Lupin III: The First, GKIDS is putting them on the big screen again for two nights apiece. The screenings begin June 13 with Children of the Sea, which screens its dub June 13 and its sub June 15. Weathering With You will return the following month with its dub July 25 and its sub June 27. Lupin III: The First comes back August 27 in dub form and August 29 in sub form, and the schedule wraps up with the return of Promare on September 16 (dub) and September 18 (sub).
Normally we have reservations when a long-standing anime superstar tries to go the CG route, but the new anime film Lupin III: The First, which came this year to America courtesy of GKIDS, made the translation flawlessly (live-action is even worse, by the way, and Lupin’s been there). But this time the classic designs by Monkey Punch came alive in the animation shift — and the plot wasn’t bad either; critics loved it.
GKids is bringing a unique anime film to US audiences this December — On-Gaku: Our Sound. It’s a slacker buddy comedy like you’ve never seen the genre: animated in a minimal Japanese style.
Lupin The 3rd: The First, a computer-animated feature film starring the gentleman thief who has endured for over 50 years, was released in Japan in 2019. It received high praise as one of the most entertaining Lupin things ever made (though as far as Lupin movies go, nothing’s ever gonna top Miyazaki’s take). Ever since, folks have been wondering…when are we gonna get it?
Weathering With You, the follow-up to director Makoto Shinkai and producer Genki Kawamura;’s mega-hit Your Name, will be hitting disc formats early next month…and digital formats this very second.
Everyone rejoice — Lupin III: The First is being given a US release! Isn’t that amazing news?? ……What do you mean you don’t know who “Lu-pawn” is?