‘Your Name’ is best animated film – US critics
JAPAN: ‘Your Name’, the anime film by manga artist Makoto Shinkai, was named the Best Animated Film in 2016 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA). Also known as ‘Kimi no Na wa’, the movie not only impressed the award-giving body but also moviegoers in different countries.
“We consider Makoto Shinkai’s ‘Your Name’ a true masterpiece and its selection for the prestigious Best Animated Film from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association only cements that fact,” FUNimation CEO and Founder Gen Fukunaga said in a statement released by the foreign licensing company’s website. “Funimation has been fortunate to work with Makoto Shinkai on this film and we are confident that US audiences will agree that it is one of the finest animated films of the decade.”
Shinkai wrote and directed ‘Your Name’ based on his novel of the same name. It focuses on Taki and Mitsuha, two teenagers who, for some unknown reason, switch bodies and find a way to communicate by leaving notes and messages, which the other can read when they switch back.
Taki and Mitusha become used to the body-switching, but one day, Taki finds that he is no longer swapping bodies with Mitsuha. He tries to find her but learns that her village was hit by a comet three years previously. Still, he tries to reconnect with her even though he learns that their timelines are not in sync.
The movie has earned big at the box office. According to The Hollywood Reporter, ‘Your Name’ spent 12 weeks at number 1 in Japan’s box office and three weeks in second place.
‘Your Name’ is the highest grossing film in 2016, having earned approximately US$175 million ($19.9 billion yen) since it debuted on Aug. 26. It is currently the fifth highest grossing film of all time in all genres in its home country and the second highest grossing anime film.
In China, the film raked in US$41 million in its opening weekend, landing at No. 1 in the box office. In the United States, it is on a limited run at the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills.
The LAFCA will present the awards at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City, California on Jan 17, 2017.
Funimation will feature ‘Your Name’ in select theatres in the United States in early 2017.