If word of mouth is to be believed, the new movie from acclaimed anime director Mamoru Hosoda titled Belle is a tour de force of visual imagery that will knock your socks off. Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it. Just look up the box office totals, since the movie debuted in Japan back in July 2021. The big question on the minds of everyone outside of Japan, however, has been when will it be released overseas? Particularly, when will it be released in the United States?
Mark your calendars folks, because GKIDS finally answered that question via a press release sent out on Tuesday, October 12th. Belle is hitting theaters stateside on January 14th, 2022. No further details were released regarding where the screenings will happen or when tickets will go on sale, but stay tuned to the J-List Blog for updates as they hit the wires.
While I’ve yet to see Belle myself, it’s been impossible to work in the anime industry over the last few months and not hear the tremendous buzz surrounding this title. It was even reported that after the film made its debut at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, it received a fourteen-minute-long standing ovation from the audience. I don’t care who you are, that’s a lot of clapping for an anime movie.
Over the last few years, Hosoda has proven himself more than capable of hanging with the big boys of the industry. Forget the powerful stories that he tells in each of his movies, but consider the sheer visual majesty that he conveys in every frame of every scene. This is a guy who has earned his stripes and is more than ready to be paid his fair due in the form of a major global award. Could this movie be his ticket to that elusive Academy Award? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Source: Crunchyroll News
