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Crunchyroll, one of the world's leading anime streaming services, is gearing up for the North American premiere of two highly acclaimed anime films. This fall, Production I.G.'s The Concierge and CloverWorks' Trapezium will receive exclusive one-day-only screenings in select U.S. and Canadian theaters.

As detailed in a recent press release, The Concierge -- a poignant slice-of-life drama set in a world populated by anthropomorphic animals -- is slated to arrive in North American theaters on Sept. 11. Trapezium, which Crunchyroll's press team describes as a "fresh, realistic take on Japan's idol-obsessed culture," will be screened on Sept. 18. Additionally, Crunchyroll and distribution partner Sony Pictures Entertainment have also set one-day-only screening dates for participating theaters in several other major territories, as listed below.

Related Crunchyroll Undergoes a Brand Refresh for "Stronger, Bolder" Anime Experience

Massively popular anime streaming service Crunchyroll is receiving a brand-new makeover just in time for San...

Anime is bigger than ever. With dedicated streaming services such as Crunchyroll enjoying a meteoric rise, rivals Netflix and Prime Video getting in on the action with their own dedicated selection, and even Disney – the arbiter of western animation – now boasting a growing number of exclusive anime series on Disney+, the availability and popularity of Japanese animation has never been greater.

Yet it's in film where anime has enjoyed the biggest boom, with the likes of Your Name and Miss Hokusai heralding a new era of excellence in animation, adding to a canon of definitive works such as Akira and My Neighbour Totoro. But with decades of brilliance to choose from, getting started on anime – or just choosing what to watch for movie night – can be daunting.

We've plucked out the best of the best to get you started, with a selection that highlights the medium's rich diversity of genres and styles,...

As a medium, anime is closely associated with all things fantastical and over-the-top. Be it the supernatural battles of the shonen genre, the surreal humor of gag comedies, or the hard-to-believe wholesomeness of slice-of-life, most anime provide viewers with an escape from reality by telling stories that could never have happened in the material world. Nevertheless, the range of themes anime covers is near-infinite, and many creators attempt to recreate reality in accurate detail through their work instead of playing into the medium’s intrinsic whimsy.

Realistic anime might not be as popular as its magical counterparts, yet it has found a niche for itself in the movie format, with some of the greatest authentic stories in the medium existing in the form of feature films. With so many facets of real life to cover, fans of realism have plenty of genres to choose from in anime, from sweet and...

The upcoming anime film The Concierge will arrive in North American theaters next year.

According to Anime News Network, Crunchyroll has acquired the rights to Production I.G.'s latest fantasy film and plans to give it a theatrical run in North America in 2024. Based on Tsuchika Nishimura's The Concierge at Hokkyoku Department Store manga series, the movie revolves around a young woman named Akino, who works at a department store whose customers are all anthropomorphic animals. Despite her unusual client base, Akino aims to become an exceptional concierge, impressing customers with her diligence and sincerity. The Concierge is slated to premiere in Japan on Oct. 20. Crunchyroll has released the film's official trailer on its YouTube channel.

Related: Film Version of Phoenix: Eden17 Anime Releases New Trailer

Yoshimi Itazu, who is known for his animation work on The Deer King (2021) and Miss Hokusai (2015), is taking on The Concierge as his first film project as director.

"Maybe we're supposed to help each other." GKids has revealed an official US trailer for a Japanese anime film titled Lonely Castle in the Mirror, set to play in US theaters this summer. More and more Japanese films are getting a proper theatrical release, as they're noticed there is a good audience for this and they can actually bring people out to the cinema. From acclaimed director Keiichi Hara and based on the bestselling novel by Mizuki Tsujimura, Lonely Castle in the Mirror is a heartfelt drama about the pains of growing up and the unlikely bonds that can bring people together. Seven teens wake to find their bedroom mirrors are shining. They are pulled from their lonely lives to a wondrous castle. In this new sanctuary, they are confronted with a set of clues leading to a hidden room where one of them will be granted a wish. But...

Summer theatrical release lined up.

GKids has acquired all North American rights to Keiichi Hara’s Rotterdam selection Lonely Castle In The Mirror.

The film was the first Japanese animation to premiere at Rotterdam International Film Festival and recently received its US premiere at New York International Children’s Film Festival.

Lonely Castle In The Mirror follows shy school student Kokoro who enters a castle through a portal in her bedroom mirror where she and six other students must accept a challenge by a girl wearing a wolf mask.

The youngsters work together to uncover the mysterious connection that unites them,...

What Westerners don’t know about Noh — the classical Japanese theater form in which masked dancers gracefully interpret supernatural tales — could easily fill a 12-hour PBS documentary. But who wants to watch that? Certainly not the audience renegade anime director Masaaki Yuasa is after with “Inu-oh,” a rowdy punk alternative focusing on two social rejects whose defiantly original performance style broke all the rules and elevated them to rock-star status, only to be (all but) forgotten by history.

Among the most unpredictable artists of his medium, Yuasa specializes in trippy, off-the-wall anime features such as “Mind Game” and “Night Is Short, Walk On Girl” that recall the work of psychedelic toonsmith Ralph Bakshi at his anti-establishment extreme. Of all the filmmakers now working in Japan, Yuasa is the last one fans would expect to show an interest in the rigorously rule-based world of Noh — until it clicks that his...

Sink Your Teeth Into Tokyo Ghoul On Screen Anime

Live-action adaptation of hit manga heads line-up that challenges limits of animation.

Expand the realms of possibility for animation this month with the Screen Anime channel’s latest line-up that celebrates experimental techniques, and anime’s rising influence in other mediums. Leading this latest curated roster of films is Tokyo Ghoul, the Japanese live-action adaptation of Sui Ishida’s internationally bestselling horror manga, that previously inspired the beloved anime franchise.

Screen Anime also invites you to experience new techniques and ideas in anime with The Case of Hana & Alice, a coming-of-age mystery celebrated for its use of rotoscoping, a technique of tracing live-action footage to create realistic motion seen in later films like 2017’s Loving Vincent. Director Masaaki Yuasa has proven himself to be a favourite among Screen Anime fans, and there’s no better showcase of why that is than...

An Jae-hoon’s Contrechamps Jury Prize-winning film “Shaman Sorceress” premiered at Annecy 2020. Originally planned for the silver screen but instead splashed across computer monitors, the film’s reception has been severely muted — which is a shame, considering the its unprecedented qualities. In this animated musical about a sexually promiscuous medium in the Joseon era, “Shaman Sorceress” tests the boundaries of Korean culture wars.

The film begins with Nang-yi, a deaf daughter with an eye for ink painting. She and her beautiful mother, Mowha (Sonya) live in disgrace. Mowha scrapes a living between her alcoholic tendencies and sexual escapades by serving as the local exorcist. One day, Nang-yi’s long-lost, handsome brother, Woo-kyi (Kim Dae-hyun) — originally sent away to study at a Buddhist temple — returns many years later as a Jesuit pastor-in-training. Armed with the Bible and the power of prayer, he devotes his days to convert his heathen mother. The...

The third edition of the Japannual Film Festival takes place from 1st to 6th of October in Vienna. This year, the festival celebrates the 150th anniversary of Austrian-Japanese diplomatic relations with an excellent selection of films, showing the highlights of the bygone year. Besides the modern cinema, Japannual features two movies of the infamous director Koji Wakamatsu accompanied by the short films of video artist Yuri Muraoka.

The opening film “Blue Hour” (2019), a multi-layered comedy about a sudden family visit, is the first feature by female director Yuko Hakota and was already celebrated at the Nippon Connection Festival for its portrayal of strong female characters.

Strong female characters can also be seen in Kosai Sekine’s “Love at Least” (2018) and Momoko Fukuda’s “My Father, My Bride” (2019). Both directors will be present at the festival and so it the actress Shuri, who gives an intriguing performance of a mentally ill...

Keiichi Hara, known for “Summer Days with Coo” (2007) and his more recent anime hit “Miss Hokusai” (2015), delivers “Birthday Wonderland” – an ecological road movie about friendship.

“Birthday Wonderland” is now screening at /slash film festival.

The story centers around the young girl Akane and her family friend Chii, who is the owner of a curiosity shop. Her shop is the setting for a strange encounter with the Alchemist Mr. Hippocrates and his little helper, Pipo. As they enter through a portal in the cellar of the shop in search of the so-called “Goddess of the Green Wind”, they seem to have found their chosen one in Akane. From now on she is determined to follow them into their world to solve the imminent water shortage crisis.

“Birthday Wonderland” is a big-budget anime production by Warner Brother Japan, Aniplex and Fuji TV. In a “Ferris Bueller”- like manner, the schoolgirl Akane...

This week, the /slash Film Festival, Austria’s biggest Fantastic Film Festival, starts its projectors in Vienna to screen a broad catalog of dark and twisted treats. From September 19 until September 29, the 10th edition of the Festival will also present a promising Asian selection.

Six Asian feature films and four animations are among the total number of 70 movies that can be seen in two charming old-town cinemas. The so-called “/asian” selection starts with “The Scoundrels” (2018), the debut of Taiwanese director Hung Tzu-Hsuan. From the Philippines comes Erik Matti’s “The Entity” (2019). An elegant horror-thriller about a secretive family history that is packed with suspense. In cooperation with the Japannual Film Festival, /slash presents the Japanese entry for the selection – “The Fable” (2019) by Kan Eguchi. The Manga adaption is a mixture of over the top action sequences and utterly disarming humor. Highly anticipated is also Won-Tae Lee’s “The Gangster, The Cop,...

Days away from her birthday, teenage girl Akane feels listless as she comes up with excuses to stay in bed rather than attending school or going outside. She is even less thrilled as her mother tells her to visit her aunt Chii, the owner of a little bric-a-brac store, in order to receive her birthday present. However, as Chii is looking for her present and Akane browses the store, out of the blue a hidden trap door to the basement opens and a tall man appears accompanied by a small apprentice called Pipo.

As the man introduces himself as Hippocrates, a world-famous alchemist, he tells Akane that she is the Goddess of the Green Wind and he has been looking all over for her. Eventually the girl and her aunt accompany the two men to the world beyond, a world on the brink of chaos, a world which only Akane may be able to save.

Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival has shared the best in anime since its very first edition, and as its 23rd edition (11 July – 1 August) approaches, Fantasia’s Axis section, home to the festival’s animated films, proudly announces an extraordinary array of anime titles — all in competition for Fantasia’s prestigious Satoshi Kon Award for Achievement in Animation!

Fantasia has just announced its Closing Film, and anime fans will agree — extreme heat never looked so cool! In the embers of the globe-engulfing great flame war, the maverick firefighters of Burning Rescue confront the fiery terrorists of Burnish Mad. Director Hiroyuki Imaishi and writer Kazuki Nakashima, who’ve together previously on Gurren Lagann and Kill La Kill, are at the wheel for the first feature film from edgy anime studio Trigger, Promare. A raging riot of bright colours, daring design, crazy characters and whiplash action, Promare isn’t just the most...

Disney-Pixar’s “Toy Story 4,” Nickelodeon’s “Spongebob’s Big Birthday Blowout,” work-in progress sneak peeks at Netflix’s “Klaus” and Warner Animation Group’s “Scoob” look set to be some of the highlights at this year’s Annecy Intl. Animation Festival whose lineup was announced in Paris on Monday.

Opening, as already announced, with the world premieres of an episode from Warner Bros. Animation’s “Looney Tunes Cartoons” and Lino Disalvo’s “Playmobil: The Movie,” the biggest French production of 2019, and taking in the first screening of DreamWorks Animation’s short “Marooned,” the 2019 Annecy Festival also features Gaumont/Amazon Studios’ “Do Ré & Me.”

Running June 10-15 in a picturesque lakeside town in the French Alps, Annecy has grown year-on-year for near two decades, driven by the resurgence of animation worldwide.

This year’s event, at first glance, looks to underscore two growth drivers. A larger platform on the lake,...

The Tokyo International Film Festival is this year putting the spotlight on anime veteran Keiichi Hara.

Beginning his directing career in the early 1980s on TV and movie productions of the mega-hit anime franchise Doraemon,  Hara continued into the 1990s and early 2000s working on another major kids' anime franchise, Crayon Shin-chan.

His award-winning feature Summer Days With Coo in 2007 was followed in 2010 by Colorful, a complex examination of teenage suicide. But it was 2015's Miss Hokusai, about the daughter and collaborator of a famous woodblock print artist, which garnered Hara international recognition.

This year marks the 100th anniversary...

Director of Colorful and Miss Hokusai selected for Tiff’s annual Animation Focus section.

This year’s Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff, Oct 25-Nov 3) will highlight the work of Miss Hokusai director Keiichi Hara in its Animation Focus section.

Tiff said Hara had been chosen due to his “increased international recognition” as well as “his ability to combine a strong auteurist approach with commercial appeal”. The festival, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, also observed that this year marks the 100th anniversary of Japanese animation.

Full details of the titles selected for ‘The World of Keiichi Hara’ will be announced at the same time as the Tiff line-up in September. The animation focus will include screenings of Hara’s animated films and TV works, along with live action films. Screenings will be followed by panel sessions with special guests.

Following his early work on hit series such as Doraemon and Crayon Shin-chan, Hara started...

Tokyo International Film Festival is to showcase the work of Keiichi Hara in this year’s Animation Focus section.

Hara worked on anime TV hits including Doraemon and Crayon Shin-chan, before switching to anime features. His films Summer Days With Coo (2007) and Colorful (2010) both won awards internationally as well as the Japan Academy Prize. His 2015 period anime Miss Hokusai garnered both commercial success and critical praise.

In addition to the screenings, there will be talk shows and other events, with more details to be announced by the festival.

Previous editions of the Special Focus on Japanese Animation...

Publisher Kodansha and Japan-headquartered animation company Production I.G are working on a new animated production based on the classic Ghost in the Shell manga.

It will be co-directed by Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series) and Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed).

Also this week, Production I.G — whose animation credits includes Ghost in the Shell, Miss Hokusai and A Letter to Momo — announced the promotion of Maki Terashima-Furuta to the role of president of Production I.G. USA.

Terashima-Furuta founded the U.S. subsidiary of Production I.G. in 1997 and has served as vice president, during which time she has overseen development, production...

Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.

45 Years (Andrew Haigh)

Andrew Haigh’s third feature as a director, 45 Years, is an excellent companion piece to its 2011 predecessor, Weekend. The latter examined the inception of a potential relationship between two men over the course of a weekend, whereas its successor considers the opposite extreme. Again sticking to a tight timeframe, the film chronicles the six days leading up to a couple’s 45th wedding anniversary. Though highly accomplished, Weekend nevertheless suffered from a tendency towards commenting...

Sometimes the only way people learn how to feel at ease with, and accept, who they truly are is when they’re expressing themselves in the comfort of their talent. That’s certainly the case with the strong protagonist in the animated film, ‘Miss Hokusai.’ The young lead character starts to realize that she can be completely […]

The post Witness Miss Hokusai’s Emotional Coming-of-Age Story in Blu-ray Package Giveaway appeared first on Shockya.com.

“In its ruminations on artistic tradition, creation, and vision, Miss Hokusai is something close to a minor masterpiece,” we said in our review last fall. With Keiichi Hara‘s animation now arriving on Blu-ray this week, we’ve teamed with Gkids to give away a prize pack to our readers, including Great wave socks, folding fan, bookmark, journal, green tea chocolate bar, and a Blu-ray/DVD of the film. All entries must be received by 11:59 Pm Est on Sunday, March 12th.

To enter, do the first two steps and then each additional one counts as another entry into the contest.

1. Like The Film Stage on Facebook.

2. Follow The Film Stage on Twitter.

Follow @TheFilmStage

3. Follow The Film Stage on Instagram.

4. Comment in the box on Facebook with your favorite animation produced in Japan.

5. Retweet the following tweet:

We're giving away this #MissHokusai prize pack! Follow us & Rt to enter.

In the most competitive animation Oscar race ever, the power of Disney still prevailed, with both “Zootopia” and “Moana” making the cut. They were joined by “Kubo and the Two Strings,”(Laika’s fourth nom), “My Life as a Zucchini” (Gkids’ ninth nom), and the Studio Ghibli co-production, “The Red Turtle.”

However, Disney was the only major studio represented, with Pixar’s “Finding Dory” sequel getting snubbed despite becoming the number one animated movie of all time. Also left out were Illuminaton’s “Sing” and DreamWorks’ “Trolls.”

Read More: Oscar Nominations Analysis: ‘La La Land’ Will Win Best Picture, Unless Anti-Trump Voters Let ‘Moonlight’ Shine

But with so many international entries, the biggest question was how many would get nominated, considering how inclusive the multi-branch animated feature film committee has been in recent years. Two other prime contenders were both Japanese hand-drawn movies: the body-switching hit, “Your Name” (honored by...

The executive joined Gkids in 2007 and most recently served as senior vice-president of distribution.

CEO and founder Eric Beckman will continue to serve as CEO of the company that has garnered eight best animation feature Oscar nominations.

“Dave has been my partner since Gkids was a start-up and we worked elbow-to-elbow in an 8 x 12 office,” said Beckman. “He has been a crucial component of the company’s success to date.

“As much as anything, this new title is merely an acknowledgment of the role he is already serving – and I look forward to Dave’s continued leadership and innovative thinking as the company looks to grow in exciting new directions over the coming years.”

The Gkids 2017 roster includes Swiss Oscar submission My Life As A Zucchini, Us comedy My Entire High School Sinking Into The Sea, and The Breadwinner, the upcoming feature from two-time Oscar-nominated Cartoon Saloon on which Beckman and Jesteadt serve as executive producers.

The...

Claude Barras’ “My Life as a Zucchini” is currently nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Animated Motion Picture category and sits as one of nine foreign language films on the Oscar shortlist competing for a 2017 Academy Award. Now, Gkids has announced the English voice cast for the critically acclaimed film.

Among the actors who will lend their voices to the English-language version are Will Forte, Nick Offerman, Ellen Page and Amy Seders. This new edition will have its world premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, and be released in theaters in both English and its original French-language version in February 2017.

Read More: ‘My Life as a Zucchini’: Creating a Truffaut-Like, Stop-Motion Coming of Age Movie

“My Life as a Zucchini” follows orphan Zucchini, who after his mother’s sudden death is befriended by a police officer, Raymond, who accompanies him to his new foster home filled with other orphans his age.

In many ways, it’s been the year of the self-reliant female in animation, headlined by”Zootopia’s” Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), Ellen DeGeneres’ forgetful but streetwise Blue Tang from “Finding Dory,” the eponymous teenage Polynesian in “Moana” (Auli’i Cravalho), the eternally optimistic Princess Poppy (Anna Kendrick) from “Trolls” and the trio of gals from “Sing.”

Read More: How Gkids Doubled Down to Compete in the Most Crowded Animation Oscar Race

They reflect hopes and dreams and empowerment in both individual and universal ways. What’s more, their journeys are so relatable and inspiring that they’ve been embraced by audiences around the world.

“Zootopia”

It made total sense to switch protagonists from cynical, hustling fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) to idealistic bunny cop Judy Hopps in Disney’s zeitgeist-grabbing, Oscar frontrunner. You not only have more of a rooting interest in saving and healing Zootopia but it also...

In what has turned out to be the most competitive animated Oscar race since the Academy instituted the category 15 years ago, we have a record 27 entries — most of them indies — and the greatest range of diversity ever on display in terms of themes and techniques.

Read More: Annie Awards: ‘Zootopia’ with 11 Nominations Takes Lead in Oscar Race

From talking and singing animals to female empowerment, to both extraordinary and ordinary rites of passage, to cycle of life exploration, animation speaks with relevance and urgency about and how we must grow closer together in these divisive times.

In terms of the race itself, the animation committee remains dedicated to nominating two or three indies, so look for that trend to continue. Which means no more than one or two big studio CG movies, along with significant representation of 2D and stop-motion. But while Gkids has dominated the indie field the last several years,...

In the most competitive animated Oscar race ever (with a record 27 entries), indie powerhouse Gkids (with eight nominations since 2009) entered the fray with five contenders for the first time. And, on Monday, its two strongest — the stop-motion “My Life as a Zucchini” and the hand-drawn “Miss Hokusai” — grabbed two Annie nominations for best indie feature and a third for “Zucchini” director Claude Barras.

Read More: How Gkids Shook the Oscar Animated Race with First Latin American Nominee and a New Ghibli Hit

“It’s a feast of animation and the timing was just the luck of the draw,” Gkids co-founder and president Eric Beckman told IndieWire. “The really rich landscape that we see this year is part of a trend and a shift [toward indies] that we’re happy to see exist and take pride in helping propagate it.”

Beckman also prides himself on smart taste and filling a need to help...

Disney’s zeitgeist-grabbing Oscar-frontrunner, “Zootopia,” racked up 11 nominations in Asifa-Hollywood’s 44th Annie Awards race (including best feature and every other category except music), while Laika’s Japanese stop-motion fantasy, “Kubo and the Two Strings,” boasted 10 (including best feature and direction for president/CEO Travis Knight).

The Annie Awards will be held February 4th at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

Overall, Disney/Pixar dominated with 21 movie noms, with “Moana” nabbing six and “Finding Dory” getting three (including best feature for both) and Pixar’s lovely “Piper” leading the shorts category.

DreamWorks, meanwhile, scored eight noms: four each for “Kung Fu Panda 3” (including best feature) and “Trolls” (including character and production design).

In the new indie category for best feature, Michael Dudok de Witt’s “The Red Turtle” (co-produced by Studio Ghibli) was joined by Gkids’ “Miss Hokusai” and the stop-motion “My Life as a Zucchini,” “Long Way North” (from Shout Factory) and the Japanese blockbuster,...

“Zootopia” and “Kubo and the Two Strings” lead the nominations for the 44th annual Annie Awards, with 11 nominations and 10 nominations, respectively. In the category for Best Animated Feature, “Zootopia” and “Kubo” are nominated along with “Finding Dory,” “Kung Fu Panda 3” and “Moana.” In the separate Best Animated Independent Feature Category are films like the Swiss foreign-language Oscar entry “My Life as a Zucchini,” “Miss Hokusai,” “Long Way North,” “The Red Turtle” and “Your Name.” Disney and its entities received 38 nods, including two for the studio’s live-action hit “The Jungle Book.” DreamWorks Animation scored 18 nominations for its...

This is one of the most competitive Animated Feature Film faces in some time. So competitive that at this time we don’t even have “Finding Dory” making the top five. [Updated Nov. 20]

Top Five

“Kubo and the Two Strings”

“Moana”

“The Red Turtle”

“Sing”

“Zootopia”

Almost There

“Finding Dory”

“The Little Prince”

“Long Way North”

“Sausage Party”

“The Secret Life of Pets”

Longshots

“The Angry Birds Movie”

“April and the Extraordinary World”

“Bilal”

“Ice Age: Collision Course”

“Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy Xv”

“Kung Fu Panda 3”

“Miss Hokusai”

“Monkey King: Hero Is Back”

“Mune”

“Mustafa & the Magician”

“My Life as a Zucchini”

“Phantom Boy”

“Snowtime!”

“Storks”

“Trolls”

“25 April”

“Your Name”

Other categories:

Gregory Ellwood’s Current Oscar Predictions:

Best Picture

Director

Best Actress

Best Actor

Best Supporting Actress

Best Supporting Actor

Original Screenplay

Adapted Screenplay

Editing – Coming Soon

Cinematography – Coming Soon

Animated Feature Film

Foreign Language Film – Coming Soon

Documentary Feature – Coming Soon...

(Anime Limited goes crazy pimping, part III...) Last week saw a veritable deluge in releases from Scottish distributor Anime Limited, three of which easily qualified for a "Pretty Packaging" article. So on Saturday we showed Miss Hokusai, yesterday we showed the Escaflowne Ultimate Edition, and today we go to the biggest yet: the utterly insane Fullmetal Alchemist Ultimate Edition. This boxset contains the Blu-ray edition of the original Fullmetal Alchemist series from ten years ago, and that immediately poses the question who would buy this. That series famously got remade entirely in HD a few years later, in a longer version with a different branching story, called Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and that one has easily been available already for a while already. So who'd invest...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

(Anime Limited goes crazy pimping, part II...) Glasgow-based distributor Anime Limited released three royally decorated Blu-ray boxes this week, and we're covering all of them. Yesterday saw the pretty wooden box of the Miss Hokusai release, tomorrow we'll look at Fullmetal Alchemist, but today we check out The Vision of Escaflowne. One of the classic anime series of the nineties, The Vision of Escaflowne is a great mish-mash of genres, starting as a teen school romance before plunging into fantasy, and evolving into hardcore science fiction. I mean, steam-punk flying dragon harnesses? Whoa! However, the mish-mash turned out great, helped by great characters, great design, excellent music, and prudent use of those newfangled-yet-pretty (at the time) cgi techniques. To this day, the series has a...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Claude Barras’ engaging, bittersweet stop-motion movie,”My Life as a Zucchini” (both the Swiss foreign language Oscar entry and a Gkids animated feature contender) immediately brings to mind Francois Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows” for its naked truth about adolescent pain. In fact, the first-time feature director (who’s made such shorts as “Chamber 69” and “Land of the Heads”) said he was inspired by the audition footage of Jean-Pierre Léaud trying out for Antoine Doinel on “The 400 Blows” DVD.

Read More: Record 27 Animated Features Vie for Oscar Nods

“I fell in love with Gilles Paris’ book, ‘Autobiography of a Zucchini,’ a tender and poetic coming of age story [adapted by Celine Sciamma],” Barras said. “The story and its tone brought me back to my childhood and reminded me of my first emotional flutters as a moviegoer…. With this animated film adaptation, I wanted to share with today’s public a bit of these...

A record 27 features have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 89th Academy Awards.

The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

“The Angry Birds Movie”

“April and the Extraordinary World”

“Bilal”

“Finding Dory”

“Ice Age: Collision Course”

“Kingsglaive Final Fantasy Xv”

“Kubo and the Two Strings”

“Kung Fu Panda 3”

“The Little Prince”

“Long Way North”

“Miss Hokusai”

“Moana”

“Monkey King: Hero Is Back”

“Mune”

“Mustafa & the Magician”

“My Life as a Zucchini”

“Phantom Boy”

“The Red Turtle”

“Sausage Party”

“The Secret Life of Pets”

“Sing”

“Snowtime!”

“Storks”

“Trolls”

“25 April”

“Your Name.”

“Zootopia”

Several of the films have not yet had their required Los Angeles qualifying run. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category’s other qualifying rules before they can advance in the voting process. Depending on the number of films that qualify, two to five nominees may be voted.

There will be five Oscar nominations for animated feature this year, as a record 27 submissions are up for consideration; 16 or more films must qualify for the five slot maximum.

Here are the submitted features, listed in alphabetical order:

“The Angry Birds Movie”

“April and the Extraordinary World”

“Bilal”

“Finding Dory”

“Ice Age: Collision Course”

“Kingsglaive Final Fantasy Xv”

“Kubo and the Two Strings”

“Kung Fu Panda 3”

“The Little Prince”

“Long Way North”

“Miss Hokusai”

“Moana”

“Monkey King: Hero Is Back”

“Mune”

“Mustafa & the Magician”

“My Life as a Zucchini”

“Phantom Boy”

“The Red Turtle”

“Sausage Party”

“The Secret Life of Pets”

“Sing”

“Snowtime!”

“Storks”

“Trolls”

“25 April”

“Your Name.”

“Zootopia”

Several films will need to fulfill their Los Angeles qualifying run in order to be deemed eligible by the Academy. Animated films may also vie for other categories; most often, they are writing and music.

Oscar nominations will be announced on Tuesday,...

Read More: 2017 Oscar Predictions

The Academy has been giving out the Best Animated Feature prize for 15 years now, and Pixar has claimed nine victories, the most of any studio. This feat bodes well for “Finding Dory,” the studio’s critically hailed blockbuster sequel to Oscar-winner “Finding Nemo.” In this category, at least, sequels are not a bad thing — “Toy Story 3” took home two Oscars.

Pixar’s home, Walt Disney Animation Studios, meanwhile, has been on a meteoric rise over the past several years, notching back-to-back wins for “Frozen” and “Big Hero 6” in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The studio is in the midst of another golden age, and this year’s smash hit “Zootopia” will easily find a place among the year’s nominees. Not only is the film a critical darling, but it has passed the $1 billion mark at the global box office. Also in the mix is upcoming timeless Pacific Islands myth “Moana,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said today that a record 27 films have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 89th Academy Awards. They are: The Angry Birds Movie April and the Extraordinary World Bilal Finding Dory Ice Age: Collision Course Kingsglaive Final Fantasy Xv Kubo and the Two Strings Kung Fu Panda 3 The Little Prince Long Way North Miss Hokusai Moana Monkey King: Hero Is Back Mune Mustafa & the Magician My…...

Zootopia, Kubo And The Two Strings, Finding Dory, The Red Turtle, Sausage Party and My Life As A Zucchini are among those vying for Academy Awards glory.

Announcing the record submissions haul on Friday, Academy staff said between two and five nominees will emerge on January 24 depending on the number of films that qualify. At least 16 films must qualify to trigger five nominees. At this stage, several contenders have not begun their Los Angeles qualifying run.

The submitted features in alphabetical order are:

The Angry Birds Movie

April And The Extraordinary World

Bilal

Finding Dory

Ice Age: Collision Course

Kingsglaive Final Fantasy Xv

Kubo And The Two Strings

Kung Fu Panda 3

The Little Prince

Long Way North

Miss Hokusai

Moana

Monkey King: Hero Is Back

Mune

Mustafa & The Magician

My Life As A Zucchini

Phantom Boy

The Red Turtle

Sausage Party

The Secret Life Of Pets

Sing

Snowtime!

Storks

Trolls

25 April

Your Name

Zootopia

According to Academy...

Zootopia, Kubo And The Two Strings, Finding Dory, The Red Turtle, Sausage Party and My Life As A Zucchini are among those vying for Academy Awards glory.

Announcing the record submissions haul on Friday, Academy staff said between two and five nominees will emerge on January 24 depending on the number of films that qualify. At least 16 films must qualify to trigger five nominees. At this stage, several contenders have not begun their Los Angeles qualifying run.

The submitted features in alphabetical order are:

The Angry Birds Movie

April And The Extraordinary World

Bilal

Finding Dory

Ice Age: Collision Course

Kingsglaive Final Fantasy Xv

Kubo And The Two Strings

Kung Fu Panda 3

The Little Prince

Long Way North

Miss Hokusai

Moana

Monkey King: Hero Is Back

Mune

Mustafa & The Magician

My Life As A Zucchini

Phantom Boy

The Red Turtle

Sausage Party

The Secret Life Of Pets

Sing

Snowtime!

Storks

Trolls

25 April

Your Name

Zootopia

According to Academy...

“Moonlight” (A24) remains the top story. Barry Jenkins’ best-reviewed film of the year expanded to a range of big city theaters this week. The movie continued as the top 2016 specialized performer in head to head comparisons this year. This performance is more than enough to buttress its elevated awards expectations, as critics groups start voting in in a few weeks.

But it wasn’t the only successful widened release. Subtitled film “The Handmaiden” (Magnolia) continued to impress, as it added far more than the usual number of second week theaters. It’s playing to both Korean-American and conventional arthouse audiences.

On a Halloween-adjacent weekend that seemed to scare off most distributors, two rock-related documentaries braved the competition. Jim Jarmusch’s “Gimme Danger,” with an initial conventional theater release, scored well, while “Oasis: Supersonic” (A24) mostly went for initial one-night events before adding streaming as its main venue.

The best reviewed...

Miss Hokusai, opened to more than 80 theaters in the U.S. last week. Since its opening, AnimeNewsNetwork reports that the film has racked in $105,459 in U.S. box office gross.

Distribution company GKids and production company Production I.G are hopeful that the critically acclaimed animated gem can reach more audiences outside Japan.

Miss Hokusai boasts historical themes, emotional arcs, and stunning animation. Since it premiered in Japan last May 2015, the film has bagged the Best Animated Feature award in several illustrious festivals including the Asian Pacific Screen Awards, the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, as well as the Fantasia International Film Festival. Miss Hokusai was also nominated for Animation of the Year by the Japan Academy Prize Association.

Miss Hokusai is directed by Keiichi Hara (from Summer Days with Coo and Colorful) and is inspired by Hinako Sugiura’s manga Sarusuberi. Yutaka Matsushige (from Last Life in the Universe...

The slumbering specialized world woke up this weekend.

Critically acclaimed “Moonlight” (A24) pulled a sensational response far beyond its already high expectations. But it wasn’t the only positive story: “The Handmaiden” (Magnolia) beat the odds against subtitled films. And Michael Moore’s election special “Trumpland” (Dog Eat Dog) scored strong numbers in theaters along with its iTunes debut.

Openers

“Moonlight” (A24) – Metacritic: 99; Festivals include: Telluride, Toronto, New York 2016

$413,175 in 4 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $103,685

In a lackluster year at the specialty box office, even a $30,000 initial platform per theater average for Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight” would have looked great. Instead, with a rare 99 Metacritic score, ahead of any other film this year, the opening PTA of $103,685 is sky high and among the top initial results ever.

How good is it? It is second only to “The Revenant” (which opened on Christmas weekend) among releases over the last two years.

Filmmaker Makoto Shinkai’s anime movie “Your Name” has earned more than 15.4 billion yen ($148 million) at the Japanese box office after 52 days in theaters, making it the fifth highest-grossing anime film in Japan, Anime News Network reports. The film has sold nearly 12 million tickets.

Watch: Anime Trailer for Makoto Shinkai’s “Your Name”

A story about two high school student who have never met but who are are united through their dreams, “Your Name” won the Best Animated Feature Film award at Spain’s 49th annual Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival in Spain on Saturday. The movie has yet to surpass the 15.50 billion yen ($153 million) earned by the 2008 fantasy film “Ponyo,” about a goldfish princess who wants to become a human and her friendship with a boy named Sosuke.

“Your Name” is the sixth highest-grossing Japanese film including live action movies, and 11th highest-grossing Japanese or overseas film overall, according to Anime News Network.

Though awards season has started outside of movie theaters it definitely hasn't started within them (a flaw of the system as we continuously bemoan) and The Birth of a Nation took another campaign hit this weekend dropping a rough 61% in its second weekend while its competition last weekend dimmed by only 38 to 50% in round two. This week was a battle between two films from reliably bankable stars without awards gold on their mind -- Kevin Hart's Kevin Hart: What Now? and Ben Affleck in the thriller The Accountant. The latter surprised by slightly outperforming the successful opening weekends of both Argo and The Town despite having nothing like their enthusiastic reviews. 

Top Ten Wide

01 The Accountant $24.7 New 

02 Kevin Hart: What Now? $11.9 New

03 The Girl on the Train $11.9 (cum. $46.5) Review

04 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children $8.9 (cum. $65.8)

05 Deepwater Horizon $6.3 (cum. $49.3) 

06 Storks $5.6 (cum. $59.1)

07 The Magnificent Seven $5.2 (cum. $84.8) Review

08 Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life...

The summer movie season always brings huge tentpole movies aimed at youngsters on summer vacation, which leads to a slew of box office blockbusters. The fall season doesn't always have the big exciting numbers of the summer season each weekend, but it is when we start to see a lot more adult fare, and potential awards season favorites. While we don't know how it may fare in the Oscar race, Ben Affleck's The Accountant ran away with an easy win this weekend with $24.7 million. This thriller easily beat out fellow newcomers Kevin Hart: What Now? and Max Steel, the latter of which couldn't even crack the top 10.

Box Office Mojo reports that The Accountant earned $24.7 million from 3,332 theaters for a solid $7,417 per-screen average. The movie had the nation's critics almost equally divided, with a 51% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. With a $44 million budget, Ben Affleck's The Accountant has...

The traditional fall season of award-season releases gets a late start on Friday with “Moonlight” (A24) and “The Handmaiden” (Magnolia) leading the way. It can’t come a moment too soon.

This weekend, top-quality films “Certain Women” (IFC), “Christine” (The Orchard), “Miss Hokusai” (Gkids) and “Aquarius” (Vitagraph) competed in limited openings. All nabbed good or better reviews. But none scored at the level likely to lead to the sort of wider response and multi-million grosses that normally come along regularly at this time of year.

The weakness can be seen among later-week grosses as films expand. There hasn’t been a breakout crossover release of any significance since “Hell or High Water” (Lionsgate), which is still grossing better than most recent releases.

“Shin Godzilla” (Funimation) showed strength with a midweek opening in a mixed plan of bookings. Similar to “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week” (Abramorama), out-of- the-box distribution seems to be finding positive results.

A few Specialty newcomers brightened the mood from last weekend's box office malaise. The Orchard's Christine, IFC Films' Certain Women and Gkids' Miss Hokusai had decently solid starts out of the gate this weekend. Stx Entertainment's Desierto opened in 73 theaters grossing $450K, while Roadside's Priceless had the widest debut among the Specialties this weekend, grossing over $703K in more than three hundred locations. Second-weekend holdovers were flat at best…...

Warner Bros.'s The Accountant stormed well ahead of BoxOfficeMojo's weekend forecast to finish #1 for the weekend. The Ben Affleck starrer more than than doubled its closest competition, which found a pair of Universal titles competing for second place between the debut of Kevin Hart: What Now? and last weekend's #1 film, The Girl on the Train. Meanwhile, Open Road's Max Steel finished outside the top ten with one of the worst openings ever for a film debuting in over 2,000 theaters. Overall, the top twelve only finished slightly higher than Mojo's projections despite The Accountant over-performing, bringing in a combined $88.5 million, which is down 7.4% compared to last weekend and down nearly 21% compared to last year. At #1, The Accountant rung up an estimated $24.7 million over the weekend, well ahead of not only Mojo's forecasts but industry expectations that were anticipating an opening anywhere from $15-20 million. While the opening is relatively...

One of the biggest reasons why 2D animation is still alive and well in other parts of the world is that some countries never got the memo that all animated films needed to be about talking animals or singing princesses. Only in America do we seem to believe that animation should exclusively be used to capture things that cannot be placed in front of a camera — this, even at a time when the dominant live-action films are basically cartoons with celebrity stand-ins. Hollywood has completely resigned itself to the idea that seeing is inherently better than imagining, each newly announced “live-action” remake a reaffirmation of the idea that every drawing wants to be a photograph.

That isn’t (and has never been) the case in Japan, however, where animated movies are so often about people — not the secret lives of their pets, or their action figures, or their sex-crazed foodstuffs,...