Oct 8, 2017

Paramount helps Americans understand "your name" by recreating it in live action

What's the reward for creating an intelligent animated feature that becomes the highest-grossing anime film ever at the worldwide box office-

In Hollywood, the answer is a live-action remake by Paramount Pictures, the same company that lost tens of millions of dollars earlier this year with its ill-conceived whitewash rendition of Ghost in the Shell.

Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot have won the rights to adapt Makoto Shinkai's Your Name. The companies will collaborate with the original producers of the film, Toho Co., Ltd.

J.J. Abrams and Lindsey Weber will produce for Bad Robot, along with Genki Kawamura, who produced the original animated film. Eric Heisserer (Arrival) will write the screenplay.

Abrams has producing credits on numerous franchises including Star Wars, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, and Cloverfield. He was a co-creator of Lost, directed Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and recently replaced Colin Trevorrow as director of Star Wars: Episode IX.

The remake is being made with the support of director Makoto Shinkai, who said in a statement: “Your Name is a film created with the innate imaginations of a Japanese team and put together in a domestic medium. When such a work is imbued with Hollywood filmmaking, we may see new possibilities that we had been completely unaware of - I am looking forward to the live-action film with excited anticipation.”

Added producer Kawamura: “Just like in the film it feels like a dream. Mr. Abrams and his team have captivated audiences in their masterful reinvention of known properties. And Mitsuha and Taki have found a perfect narrator, Mr. Heisserer, to tell their sci-fi-infused love story, which gave the film such drive. The meetings so far have been creatively stimulating with fantastic ideas that no doubt will make for a great movie.”

Shinkai's animated film grossed $355 million around the globe, including ¥25.03 billion in Japan, where it became the country's fourth-highest grossing film of all time, and $85.6M in China, where it became the highest-grossing Japanese release ever in that country. The film's regrettable lack of farting animals hindered its chances in the U.S. where it grossed just $5 million, and was unable to land in the all-time top ten anime releases.