Mamoru Hosoda‘s Belle Arriving In UK & Irish Cinemas In February

After months of teasing the UK and Irish release date, today Anime Limited announce Mamoru Hosoda‘s Belle will arrive in cinemas from February.

Outside of the Studio Ghbili films, internationally very few Japanese animation films can boast critical praise. Hosoda’s is part of that small list, from it’s world premiere at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. Here it received an standing ovation, Hosoda’s previous film Mirai is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The first non Ghibli film to be nominated and the success of the film in 2021 we will be shocked if it’s not nominated again.

Check out the official UK Trailer (subtitled version).

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 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.

The English voice cast includes Chace Crawford (The Boys, Gossip Girl), Manny Jacinto (Nine Perfect Strangers, The Good Place), and Hunter Schafer (Euphoria) and Kylie McNeil.

Belle will be released in the UK and Ireland from 4th February. The film will be released in it’s original Japanese language with English subtitles along with the English dubbed version.