After delivering such acclaimed films as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Wolf Children, The Boy and the Beast, and most recently, the Oscar-nominated Mirai, director Mamoru Hosoda is returning this year with his latest animation.
Set for a summer release in Japan, Belle tells the story of a 17-year-old student from a rural village named Suzu who enters a virtual world of five billion online members. She becomes Belle, a world-famous singer, and embarks on an adventure with a mysterious creature. Ahead of the release, the first teaser and poster have arrived.
“Belle is the movie that I have always wanted to create and I am only able to make this film a reality because of the culmination of my past works,” Hosoda tells Variety. “I explore romance, action and suspense on the one hand, and deeper themes such as life and death on the other. I expect this to be a big entertainment spectacle,”
Watch the teaser below.
Belle arrives in Japan in summer 2021.