Aug 2, 2024

North American Trailer and Release Date Set for "Kensuke's Kingdom" Movie

Blue Fox Entertainment will release the European-produced feature film "Kensuke's Kingdom" in the U.S. and Canada on October 18.

The distributor has also released a new North American trailer:

The film, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Michael Morpurgo (War Horse), follows a boy and his dog who are shipwrecked on a remote desert island. They soon learn that the island is also the home of a mysterious Japanese man who has been living there secretly since World War II. Though suspicious of each other at first, they soon realize that they must work together to protect their fragile island paradise from dangerous invaders.

Directed by British film veterans Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry from a screenplay adapted by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, the film stars Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water), Raffey Cassidy, Aaron McGregor and Ken Watanabe, among others, provide the voices.

Speaking to Cartoon Brew in 2017, Boyle noted the close collaboration between director and screenwriter Cottrell-Boyce. He said, "In many of my films, I sign off on the script and then hand the project over to the artist for visualization in the form of storyboards. For "Kenske's Kingdom," I will be working closely with Frank Cottrell-Boyce to create the most exciting and visual way to tell this story, going back and forth between dialogue and imagery until we find the best way to adapt Michael Morpurgo's classic. It's a tremendously exciting process."

The European co-productions are Camilla Deakin and Ruth Fielding of Lupus Films, Stefan Laurentz of Melusine Productions, Sarah Radcliffe and Barnaby Spurrier of Working Title, Align's Produced by Adrian Politowski and Martin Metz, Jean Labadie and Anne-Laure Labadie of Le Pacte.

Production companies include Lupus Films in association with Kensuke's Kingdom, Jigsaw Films, Melusine Productions, Le Pacte, Bumpybox; BFI, Film Fund Luxembourg, Film Cymru Wales, and Creative Wales were involved in funding.

Cartoon Brew has been following the development of the film for years, including the exclusive release of early concept art and proof-of-concept teasers.

Debuting in Annecy in 2023, the film has already been released in a number of countries, including a $2.9 million box office hit in France earlier this year.