‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ Debuts North American Trailer, Release Date
Blue Fox Entertainment is set to release the European feature Kensuke’s Kingdom in the U.S. and Canada on October 18.
The distributor has also newly released the North American trailer for the film:
An adaptation of the novel of the same name by Michael Morpurgo (War Horse), the film follows a boy and his dog who end up shipwrecked on a remote desert island. They soon discover that the island is also the home of a mysterious Japanese man who has secretly lived there since World War II. Suspicious of each other at first, they soon realize they must work together to protect their fragile island paradise from dangerous invaders.
Directed by U.K. industry veterans Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry, from an adapted screenplay by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, the film features the voices of Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water), Raffey Cassidy, Aaron MacGregor, and Ken Watanabe.
Speaking to Cartoon Brew in 2017, Boyle noted the close collaboration between the directors and screewnriter Cottrell-Boyce. “On many productions you sign off on a written script and then pass the project over to artists to visualize in storyboard form, almost like they’re two separate processes. For Kensuke’s Kingdom, we’re planning to continue working really closely with Frank Cottrell Boyce, brewing up the most exciting and visual way we can tell this story, batting back and forth dialogue and imagery until we’ve found the best way to translate Michael Morpurgo’s classic book into cinematic form. It’s a tremendously exciting process.”
The European co-production is produced by Lupus Films’ Camilla Deakin and Ruth Fielding, Melusine Productions’ Stephan Roelants, Working Title’s Sarah Radclyffe, Barnaby Spurrier, Align’s Adrian Politowski and Martin Metz, and Le Pacte’s Jean Labadie and Anne-Laure Labadie.
Production companies are Lupus Films, in association with Kensuke’s Kingdom, Jigsaw Films, Melusine Productions, Le Pacte and Bumpybox. The BFI, Film Fund Luxembourg, Ffilm Cymru Wales, and Creative Wales were involved in the funding.
Cartoon Brew has tracked the development of the film for years, including our exclusive launch of early concept art and a proof-of-concept teaser.
The film, which debuted at Annecy in 2023, has already opened in numerous countries, including France earlier this year, where it grossed $2.9 million.
