Mamoru Hosoda's Belle UK and Ireland Cinema Release Details

Date: 2022 January 13 20:45

Posted by Joe

The good folks at anime company Anime Limited have just revealed the UK cinema release date of Mamoru Hosoda's latest movie Belle. Audiences across the United Kingdom and Ireland will be able to enjoy the movie in cinemas nationwide from Friday 4th February 2022.

We've been waiting for this news since Belle was first announced and we've been tracking it's progress as it hit various film festivals where everyone has been rightly impressed with it. Hosoda's latest cinematic offering can be interpreted as a reimagining of Beauty and the Beast, but brought into a slightly futuristic setting. It tells the tale of Suzu your average rural Japanese school girl in the virtual world of "U" where she becomes a singing sensation Belle.

The movie will be available both subbed and dubbed. Interestingly for the dub they're rerecorded all the songs in English, with the supervision of the original Japanese musical team.

You can find a screening near you and book tickets via www.bellefilm.co.uk.

To be honest, there are lots of reviews of this movie*. Don't read any of them, you don't need to. Just go out and enjoy this film. It's absolute perfection. If you like any of Mamoru Hosoda's previous films you'll really love this one. If you haven't seen any of his other works, this is a great introduction.

*That being said our review will be up soon too, so please do read that.

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Press release as follows:



FIND YOUR VOICE WITH MAMORU HOSODA'S DAZZLING BELLE IN CINEMAS THIS FEBRUARY

Experience the Oscar®-nominated director's latest animated sensation exclusively in cinemas from 4th February 2022

★★★★★ Robbie Collin, The Daily Telegraph ★★★★★ Phil de Semlyen, Time Out

★★★★★ Stephen Kelly, SFX ★★★★★ Kevin Harley, Total Film

★★★★★ James Perkins, Starbust ★★★★★ Jade King, The Gamer

★★★★★ Guy Lambert, The Upcoming

London, UK, 13th January 2022 - New Year, New U! Anime Limited are delighted to announce the highly anticipated release date for BELLE, the latest animated film from the Oscar® and Golden Globe® nominated director Mamoru Hosoda (MIRAI, Wolf Children). Audiences across the United Kingdom and Ireland will be able to hear Suzu's songs exclusively in cinemas nationwide from 4th February 2022.

Directed by Mamoru Hosoda, "BELLE" is an original story inspired by the widely known classic "Beauty and the Beast" and Hosoda's realization that his own children are growing up in an online age. It is the story of Suzu, a country girl who becomes a musical sensation in the virtual world "U" with her charming avatar Belle.

When her fame attracts the attention of a fearsome yet mysterious user known only as "Dragon", Suzu will discover where the line between the online and offline self really lies. Critics have called the film ""spellbinding" (Robbie Collin, The Telegraph), "set to be a modern animated classic" (Gavin Spoors, Filmhounds), and "a visual and aural feast that absolutely must be seen on the biggest screen possible" (Josh Slater-Williams, AnOther).

BELLE is a truly international achievement that gathers top talent from across the globe under the helm of Mamoru Hosoda, who is widely regarded as "one of the finest directors working in animation today" (Jade King, TheGamer).

The film is animated and produced by Studio Chizu, Mamoru Hosoda's film production base, with character designs for BELLE by Jin Kim (Disney's Frozen, Moana) and gorgeous artwork by Eric Wong, a young British architect who designed the virtual world "U". The fantastic scenes that are part of the virtual world "U" were created by the Oscar®-nominated team of Tom Moore and Ross Stewart (Cartoon Saloon's Wolfwalkers, Song of the Sea).＿

Taisei Iwasaki (Blood Blockade Battlefront, Ghibli's Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo) along with composing original songs and score, led multiple composers and produced the film's music entirely. Other composers include critically acclaimed Yuta Bandoh (Yuri on Ice, Poupelle of Chimney Town) and BAFTA nominee Ludvig Forssell (Kojima Productions' Death Stranding) The film's main theme "U" was performed by groundbreaking Japanese act millennium parade led by the composer of the song Daiki Tsuneta.

BELLE was released in cinemas including IMAX screens in Japan starting July 16, 2021. Despite ongoing limited seating capacities and nationwide curfews, the film topped the box office for three consecutive weekends with over 4.7m admissions. The film marks Hosoda's first title to have IMAX screenings, and played in 38 IMAX theatres throughout Japan. BELLE" surpassed 6.54 billion yen in total box office revenue, surpassing the lifetime box office revenue of "The Boy and the Beast" and becoming the highest ever for a Hosoda film. It is still being screened in Japan.

Synopsis:

From the celebrated Oscar®-nominated director Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu, creator of Mirai, Wolf Children, Summer Wars, and more, comes a fantastical, yet beautiful and contemporary thematic story of one girl's growth in the age of social media.

Suzu is a 17-year-old high school student living in a rural village with her father. For years, she has only been a shadow of herself. One day, she enters "U," a virtual world of 5 billion members on the Internet. There, she is not Suzu anymore but Belle, a world-famous singer. She soon meets with a mysterious creature. Together, they embark on a journey of adventures, challenges and love, in their quest to become who they truly are.

BELLE will be released exclusively in cinemas nationwide from 4th February 2022. The film will be available in both its original Japanese language with English subtitles, as well as an English language version.

Original Language (Sub) Trailer

English Dub Trailer

Book tickets now at - www.bellefilm.co.uk

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About Anime Limited:

Based out of Glasgow, Anime Limited is Europe's premiere distributor for Japanese animation, renowned for bespoke collector's editions of fan-favourite anime and soundtracks, connecting Western audiences with creators across languages and oceans, and helping to bring anime front and centre in cinemas. Anime Limited proudly produces releases from the biggest franchises in anime including Cowboy Bebop, Attack on Titan, NEON GENESIS EVANGELION, Mobile Suit Gundam, Tokyo Ghoul, Your Name, Weathering With You, Mirai and JUJUTSU KAISEN.

About STUDIO CHIZU:

STUDIO CHIZU was established in April 2011 by director Mamoru Hosoda and producer Yuichiro Saito as a new base for filmmaking. Studio Chizu is a studio specializing in the planning and production of animated films, and the name of the studio reflects the spirit of filmmaking: "to challenge new motifs, themes, and expressions, and to create a new map in the land of animated films, where there are still infinite possibilities. For children and their families around the world, we want to continue to be a "challenger" to create new values and a future for this era. Find out more about Studio Chizu at www.studiochizu.com