Mamoru Hosoda

Mamoru Hosoda, the famed creator behind feature films such as Belle, Summer Wars, Digimon Adventure Our War Game! and more has celebrated the release of Pixar's newest movie, Turning Red, on Disney+ with a special new sketch! The newest Disney/Pixar effort has finally hit the Disney+ streaming service and fans have already noticed how there are some small allusions and shouts outs to the anime world. One notable scene in particular is actually inspired by the works of Mamoru Hosoda as Turning Red's director Domee Shi confirmed in a recent interview with Hosoda as well to celebrate the movie's worldwide release.

As Belle hits UK cinemas, the acclaimed Japanese director talks Digimon, virtual cityscapes, and parenthood in the digital age. Mamoru Hosoda’s films have always concerned themselves with the lives of children, filled with anxieties and contemplations about the effect that the older generation has on the maturation of their offspring. He’s explored this from the perspective of the parent in fantasy films like Wolf Children, but also from that of the child, in that of Mirai.

Hosoda told Insider that he included a child abuse storyline in "Belle" because he sees animation as a medium to bring awareness to social issues.

With "Belle," director Mamoru Hosoda dares to imagine a kinder internet. It seems like a fantasy, right? In this day and age, when people can be radicalized to believe all sorts of dangerous conspiracy theories or global pandemics are drawn out because of the proliferation of mistrust and paranoia, a kind internet seems like an impossible dream. But in Hosoda's digital-inspired reimagining of "Beauty of the Beast," it is possible.

Japan’s Mamoru Hosoda partnered with animators across the world to deliver his vision for awards contender Belle. The filmmaker talks about his global creative mission. Ask Mamoru Hosoda why Belle is, in his words, “the film I’ve always dreamed of making” and the Japanese anime master tells a story about a feature from another of the world’s great animation traditions.

Even in the midst of a massive COVID wave this January, box office receipts continue to surprise. One of the most impressive openings of the pandemic era so far didn’t feature a franchise superhero, but the pop star avatar of a teenage girl in Mamoru Hosoda’s critically acclaimed anime epic “Belle.” The GK Films release took in over $2 million in just 1,300 theaters this weekend racking up the third-best per screen behind “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and the latest “Scream.” Oh, and the Cannes premiere could find the “Mirai” filmmaker with a second Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.

The Academy Award-nominated director spoke with Newsweek about examining difficult social issues in his anime film, and why, as a parent, he can't ignore them.

One of the best animated films of the past few years, Belle tells a roaring, tragic, uplifting new spin on Beauty and the Beast for the Extremely Online generation. The film follows a young girl who discovers she can overcome her social anxieties by hiding under an anonymous internet persona and overnight becomes the biggest pop star in U, the film’s version of the internet. Where many films portraying the online world show it to be a lawless place rife with danger and the abuses of late-stage capitalism, Mamoru Hosoda has been showing us a more hopeful view of what it can be since he directed Digimon Adventure: Our War Game! 22 years ago, highlighting the internet’s power to help us connect with one another and discover ourselves. In his latest directorial effort, Hosoda imagines a Technicolor metropolis with billions of users, where music has the power to change the world and the internet can help you save a life, all while delivering a rather funny coming-of-age tale with some of the catchiest bangers of the year.

Director Mamoru Hosoda spoke to Newsweek about how he came up with the imaginative social media platform-turned VR "U" for his newest anime film "Belle".

Belle is set to top $2 million Thurs.-Mon. on 1,326 screens, according to distributor GKIDS. With Saturday’s actuals, it said, the gross surpassed $1.2M, making it director Mamoru Hosoda’s highest grossing film in the U.S. That was previously 2018’s Mirai with $812K. Hosoda’s (The Boy and the Beast) latest film with Studio Chizu was also his first to screen in Imax and a hit in Japan when it was released last summer. GKIDS director of distribution Chance Huskey said Belle also stands as the top grossing original anime film — meaning not affiliated with a TV franchise as most are —  since...

This Friday, Mamoru Hosoda's latest film "Belle" hits theaters. While the anime auteur may not be a household name in the way of Hayao Miyazaki or even Makoto Shinkai (the director of global anime hit "Your Name,") he should be. Hosoda, with his delicate animation style and intimate fantasy adventures, has a style unto himself, often injecting his own personal experiences into his fantastical stories. "The Boy and the Beast" might be a kickass action-fantasy movie about a boy who finds his way into the spirit world and is taken under the wing of a samurai sword-wielding bear, but it's also about Hosoda's anxieties about fatherhood. "Mirai" might be a time-travel adventure about a child who falls through the past, but it's actually Hosoda pondering his family history while musing over his own child's future.

Belle is the anime that Mamoru Hosoda has always wanted to make. The latest film from the director of Summer Wars, Wolf Children, and Mirai centers on the story of Suzu, a shy high school student who rediscovers her love for singing when she enters the immersive online world of “U.” Shedding her quiet and reserved self, Suzu adopts the identity of Belle, a gorgeous singer with a beautiful voice beloved by all those around her. When one of Belle’s concerts is interrupted by a mysterious entity known as the “Dragon” who terrorizes the denizens of U, she embarks on a journey to forge a bond with the beast unlike any she has known before.

When we last spoke with anime auteur Mamoru Hosoda in 2018, we discussed his cinematic inspirations, interest in women and children as protagonists, and approach to growing attention from audiences and critics overseas. His newest film, Belle, is a return to the well of cyberspace fairytales he’s drawn from multiple times in his career, and in anticipation of its U.S. release we spoke with him again via interpreter to hit some more key questions on his creative process, visual motifs and philosophy in this latest project.

Belle will release in theaters on Friday, January 14, and exclusive Imax previews have begun today in select markets. A modern-day reimagining of the French fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, the anime film has received worldwide praise for its gorgeous visuals and emotional story. The latest film from Studio Chizu is helmed by director Mamoru Hosoda (Mirai, Wolf Children).

With “Belle,” anime director Mamoru Hosoda introduces audiences to yet another virtual world, which he dubs “U” — a place where U can be another you, as the title character does, transforming from a shy, freckle-faced high school student, Suzu, to a Disney-style singing sensation named, well, Belle. Elaborate, conceptually innovative metaphors for the internet are something Hosoda’s fans have come to expect from the man who oversaw the original “Digimon Adventure” short (in which characters escaping to a digital world for Pokemon-esque creature battles) as far back as 1999. “I am perhaps the only director who has been depicting the internet...

When I sat down to chat with director Mamoru Hosoda over Zoom last November, it had only been a few weeks since Facebook had announced its name change, and everyone seemed to be talking about the metaverse. Hosoda, meanwhile, was promoting his latest film: Belle, a modern reinterpretation of Beauty and the Beast that just so happened to be set in a metaverse-like virtual world. “I certainly didn’t expect Facebook to change their name during our promotional campaign,” he says.

Chace Crawford (The Boys), Manny Jacinto (Nine Perfect Strangers), Hunter Schafer (Euphoria) and newcomer Kylie McNeill will lead the English-language voice cast for Mamoru Hosoda’s Gkids awards contender Belle, which is scheduled for release alongside the original Japanese-language version in U.S. theaters (including select Imax screens) on January 14, with exclusive Imax  previews in select markets beginning January 12. Others lending their voices to the new dub include Paul Castro Jr., David Chen, Jessica DiCicco, Brandon Engman, Martha Harms, Jessica Gee George, Barbara Goodson, Bentley Griffin, Andrew Kishino, Wendee Lee, Ben Lepley, Noelle McGrath, Julie Nathanson, Aaron Phillips, Ellyn Stern, Frank Todaro, Kiff...