GKIDS Acquires Makoto Shinkai’s Catalog For Home Entertainment

GKIDS has acquired the North American distribution rights for a slate of four titles from Japanese writer/director Makoto Shinkai, whose previous films Your Name and Weathering With You are some of Japan’s highest-grossing animated features of all time.

GKIDS previously handled North American distribution for Weathering With You, the most recent feature film from Shinkai, which debuted at the Toronto Int’l Film Festival in 2019, before going on to earn $194 million at the global box office.

What films GKIDS acquired: Newly-acquired titles are Shinkai’s debut feature The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004), the romantic drama 5 Centimeters per Second (2007), the fantasy-adventure Children Who Chase Lost Voices (2011), and the short film Voices of a Distant Star (2002), which the director made on his home computer.

How to see them: All titles will be released on home entertainment platforms by GKIDS later this year, featuring both their original Japanese language versions as well as English dubbed versions.

GKIDS statement: “We are thrilled to represent these vital early films from Makoto Shinkai,” said GKIDS’ president David Jesteadt. “They display the astounding visuals and emotional stories of longing and human connection that have made him one of the most exciting and important directors in animation today, and we look forward to reintroducing them to fans old and new.”