‘House of the Lost on the Cape’ Finds Way to U.S. Release, Crunchyroll Buys RightStuf – Global Bulletin
LOST AND FOUND
“The House of the Lost on the Cape,” a Japanese animated movie which was an official selection at the recent Annecy festival will have a theatrical release in North America from Sept. 7. The film is to be distributed by Los Angeles-based Eleven Arts in association with Anime Expo and Iconic Events Releasing. It tells the story of two children who lose their home to a natural disaster and are taken in by a strange old woman. The roll-out begins in Los Angeles and New York and will expand to other cities.
The film is the directorial debut of Kawatsura Shinya (“Non Non Biyori,” “Kokoro Connect,” “Sagrada Reset”) and was written by Yoshida Reiko (“A Silent Voice,” “Violet Evergarden,” “K-On!”) as an adaptation of the award-winning novel of the same title by Kashiwaba Sachiko. Animation work was headed by David Production (“JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” series, “Cells at Work!”). Earlier this year “Cape” also won the ‘best animation film’ prize at the 76th Annual Mainichi Film Awards.
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RIGHT AND ROLL
Crunchyroll, the anime streaming service owned by Sony Group, has acquired Right Stuf, a leading online anime superstore. The 35-year-old company sells Blu-Ray discs, manga books, music, figurines,
Crunchyroll
collectables and other merchandise. It also offers a limited selection of licensed anime home video products through its own label. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Crunchyroll itself was bought out by Sony, which already operated direct rival Funimation. Now the company says that the acquisition of RightStuf: “aims to serve anime fans and collectors an even wider array of merchandise.” Fans took to the Crunchyroll website to grumble about what they perceive as a growing Sony monopoly in anime content and fret over what Sony-Crunchyroll might do to the adult content that
RightStuf currently hosts.
STRANGER FRUIT
Thomas M. Wright’s Australian thriller “The Stranger” has been picked up by Netflix and will upload
See Saw Pictures
to the platform in October after a local theatrical release. The film, which stars Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris, had its world premiere in Cannes in May and plays Friday at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Produced by See-Saw Films, Anonymous Content and Blue Tongue Films, the film revolves around two strangers who strike up a conversation on a long journey. One is a suspect in an unsolved missing person’s case; the other is an undercover operative on his trail. International sales were handled by U.K.-based Rocket Science.
HONG KONG PASSION
The upcoming 46th Hong Kong International Film Festival has set a new sidebar section: The Passion of Latin American Cinema. It showcases seven recent film titles from South America. They include: “The Box,” by Lorenzo Vigas; “The Employer and the Employee,” by Manuel Nieto Zas; “New Order” and “Sundown,” both by Michel Franco; “The Great Movement,” by Kiro Russo; “The Other Tom,” by Rodrigo Pla and Laura Santullo; and “Utama,” by Alejandro Loayza Grisi. The HKIFF will run for 17 days, Aug. 15 to 31 August, 2022, in hybrid form, with screenings and audience-engagement events in theatres and online.
FESTIVAL
The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Nov. 11-27) will launch this year a new competition program, Critics’ Picks. The programming team of the new section is headed by Nikolaj Nikitin, head of SOFA School of Film Advancement. Critics’ Picks will showcase up to 10 films and it will join the existing competitive sections: the Official Selection, First Feature, Baltic Competition, and Rebels with a Cause programs. The extended deadline for submissions to the 26th edition of PÖFF, including films to be considered for the Critics’ Picks program, as well as sub-festivals PÖFF Shorts and Just Film, is Aug. 17. The final deadline is Aug. 24.
This article is published in partnership with online news service Film New Europe, which covers film and TV industry news from across Central and Eastern Europe.
PRODUCTION
Banijay Productions Germany, the company behind hit German shows “Battle of the Reality Stars” and “Temptation Island,” will produce “Big Bounce Battle” (“Big Bounce – Die Trampolin Show”) for RTL. The third series of the show, which last aired in 2019, is set for 2023. Trampoline athletes aged between 10 and 55 will take part in elimination heats comprising parkour obstacles, which will have them leaping, bouncing, and twisting. Only the finalist, who completes the specially designed trampoline course in the fastest time, will take home the cash prize.
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