Animated movie Your Name has conquered Japan, and director now seeks global success
It’s Japan’s biggest box office hit of 2016, with receipts of US$126 million – and distribution rights have been sold to more than 80 countries including Hong Kong
Makoto Shinkai’s animated hit Your Name has conquered Japan. Now the director hopes the world will fall for its charms.
“It is a unique film and has been a unique sensation,” said Shinkai, speaking before his film screened yesterday at the 21st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in South Korea.
“It’s hard for us to believe that it’s been viewed by more than 10 million people in Japan – mostly the young generation – and hopefully we can see the same result around the world.”
Your Name is a touching fantasy-romance set around the lives of two high school students who swap bodies when they dream, and who try to alter history.
It has topped the box office charts in Japan for the past six weeks, with a total take coming into the weekend of US$126 million, according to industry figures. That’s moved the film past Shin Godzilla as the number one box office hit in Japan this year.
Shinkai believes the film has tapped into emotions still raw in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami disasters of 2011 which claimed an estimated 16,000 lives.
“They took away the lives of so many people and they changed everyone in Japan,” said Shinkai.
“The wish afterwards was that we could all live longer, and so this film’s biggest motivation was to reflect these dreams of the Japanese nation. Life means so much more to us now.”