Jan 22, 2016

US release date of "Boy and Beast" confirmed

One of Japan's biggest theatrical hits of 2015 is headed to American theaters.

Funimation will release Mamoru Hosoda's coming-of-age action/adventure film, The Boy and the Beast, in the U.S. on March 4, 2016. Advance tickets go on pre-sale February 5 on Funimation's website.

The anime distributor will offer two versions to American audiences: the original Japanese language with English subtitles and an English dub. The newly-produced English dub was developed with the participation of the film's director. “It was a rare opportunity to work so closely with a film's director on a dub production and doubly so with Mamoru Hosoda – arguably the world's most prominent anime director,” said Gen Fukunaga, CEO and founder of Funimation.

Funimation has distributed two of Hosoda's earlier films in the U.S. - Wolf Children in 2013 and Summer Wars in 2010 - but their goal will be to replicate the colossal success of their last limited theatrical release, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F.' Funimation essentially rewrote the business of indie feature animation distribution with the release of that movie last August, marketing the film to a niche audience and grossing $8 million in just 14 days, an unheard-of amount for an anime film from a small distributor.

Here is the official synopsis for Hosoda's The Boy and the Beast: