Gkids Acquires North American Rights to Anime “Fireworks”

Gkids Acquires North American Rights to Anime “Fireworks”

March 15th, 2018

Jerry Beck

US distributor GKIDS announced today that it has acquired the North American distribution rights to Fireworks, from director Nobuyuki Takeuchi and general director Akiyuki Shinbo. The deal for the film was negotiated by Eric Beckman of GKIDS and Rui Machida at Toho Co., Ltd. GKIDS will release the film theatrically in Summer 2018. Here’s the Japanese trailer:

SYNOPSIS
Producer Genki Kawamura follows up his mega-hit Your Name with another tale of star-crossed teenage lovers with a sci-fi fantasy twist. Shy Norimichi and fast-talking Yusuke, are goo-goo-eyed over the same elusive classmate, Nazuna. But Nazuna, unhappy over her mother’s decision to remarry and leave their countryside town, plans to run away and has secretly chosen Norimichi to accompany her. When things don’t go as planned, Norimichi discovers that a glowing multi-color ball found in the sea has the power to reset the clock and give them a second chance to be together. But each reset adds new complications and takes them farther and farther away from the real world – until they risk losing sight of reality altogether.

Fireworks tells a simple story of adolescent longing that taps deep wells of emotion. It is tale of youthful wistfulness, missed opportunities and long-ago dreams, of the urgency of young lovers, and the desire to create a separate universe, a magic place outside of time, where they can be together.

ABOUT NOBUYUKI TAKEUCHI
Born February 27, 1967 in Hyogo prefecture. In the late 1990s, Takeuchi was the animation director for TV series Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997) and Silent Möbius (1998). In the Shaft animes, he was the visual director, storyboard artist, and episode director for MOON PHASE (2004, 2005), and in recent years, the production designer for numerous episodes of Monogatari series including Bakemonogatari (2009). He was also a key animator for Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away (2001), The Cat Returns (2002), Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), Tales from Earthsea (2006), and Ponyo (2008). He was in charge of production design setting in the Kizumonogatari series (from 2016) for which Akiyuki Shinbo was the chief executive director.

ABOUT AKIYUKI SHINBO
Shinbo made his directorial debut in 1994 with Metal Fighter MIKU and has worked closely with animation company Shaft since 2004. The first Shinbo-Shaft collaboration, TV anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011), was made into a feature-length movie later, and the new edition of Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion in 2013 became an unprecedented box office hit as a movie adaptation of a late-night anime series. He has won numerous film awards including the Animation Grand Prize at the 15th Japan Media Arts Festival hosted by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. His filmography includes Pani Poni Dash! (2005), the “Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei” series (from 2007), “Monogatari” series (from 2009), and Arakawa Under The Bridge (2010).

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Jerry Beck

Writer, cartoon producer and author of more than 15 books on animation history. A former studio exec with Nickelodeon and Disney; currently on the faculty at both CalArts in Valencia and Woodbury University in Burbank, California.