#Mamoru Hosoda’s Belle Comes to Southeast Asia

Singapore-based distributor Purple Plan will be screening Mamoru Hosoda’s critically acclaimed Belle in Southeast Asia. Countries that will receive the film include Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Singapore will hold its fan screening on November 13, while a general release is slated for November 18. Screening dates for the remaining countries will be confirmed at a later date.

Belle premiered in France’s Cannes Film Festival as part of the Cannes Premiere section on July 15. The screening marks the first time a Hosoda-directed film was part of the Official Selection list at the festival. The film opened in Japan on July 16 and amassed more than 890 million yen (~US$8.09 million) within its first three days.

The film’s staff includes Frozen character designer Jin Kim, British architect and designer Eric Wong, and Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart from Irish studio Cartoon Saloon, which produced the Oscar-nominated Song of the Sea, The Secret of the Kells, and Wolfwalkers. Studio Chizu is handling the animation production.

Other staff include illustrator Kageichi Akiya as the designer of the dragon, Takaaki Yamashita (Mirai screen designer) as the CG animation director in regards to the virtual world of “U,” Hiroyuki Aoyama (Mirai animation director) as the character designer and the real world’s animation director, Nobutaka Ike (Princess Principal) as art director, Anri Jōjō (Mirai production designer) as art designer, and Ryou Horibe (Mirai) and Digital Frontier’s Yohei Shimozawa (Doraemon: Nobita’s Treasure Island) as CG directors.

Meanwhile, the cast includes Ryou Narita as Shinobu Hisatake/Shinobu-kun, Shouta Sometani as Shinjirou Chikami/Kamishin, Tina Tamashiro as Ruka Watanabe/Ruka-chan, Rira Ikuta as Hiroka Betsuyaku/Hiro-chan, Toshiyuki Morikawa as Justin, Kenjiro Tsuda as Jelinek, Mami Koyama as Swan, and Mamoru Miyano as Tarou Hitokawamui and Maru Guttokorae.

Purple Plan describes the film as:

In the virtual world of “U,” there is no one more famous than Belle. A singer/songwriter with exceptional musical talent and fantastical beauty to match, no one would guess that, in the real world, Belle is Suzu Naito, a lonely, unremarkable teen traumatized by the death of her mother years before.

Yet, there is one existence within the virtual world that is even more mysterious than Belle.

Known only as “The Beast,” its monstrous form contains a strength unrivalled and a burning rage to match. Neither could have guessed that their first meeting would set in motion a chain of events that would change not only their lives but the lives of all those connected to them—both within the virtual world and without.

Source: Purple Plan