‘Belle’ Director Mamoru Hosoda’s ‘Scarlet’ Is Scheduled for Autumn 2025

Scarlet, the eagerly awaited animated picture by Mamoru Hosoda, will be released by Sony in the winter of 2025. This is the first partnership between Sony Pictures and Studio CHIZU, the animation studio that Hosoda and producer Yuichiro Saito co-founded in 2011. The film is referred to as “the story of a brave princess who transcends time and space,” yet plot specifics are kept under wraps.

Toshimi Tanio of Nippon TV and Yuichiro Saito and Nozomu Takahashi of Studio CHIZU are among Scarlet’s producers. Toho will manage the domestic theatrical distribution of the film, while Sony will release it outside of Japan. The film comes after Hosoda’s Cannes blockbuster, Belle, which is based on the French fairy tale Beauty and the Beast from 1756. Both anime fans and critics gave the movie high marks for its concepts, storyline, and visuals. With $64.7 million at the box office, the picture became the third highest-grossing Japanese film of 2021. Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, gives the film a 95% rating.

Mamoru Hosoda Has a Slew of Acclaimed Animated Features

The beloved director made his directorial debut with Digimon Adventure in 1999 after starting his career as an animator at Toei Animation in 1991. Among his other credits are Digimon Adventure: Our War Game! and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which won multiple accolades, including the Japan Academy Prize for Best Animation. His triumph continued with Summer Wars in 2009. Summer Wars, which was based on a story he created, was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Director in 2011 and shown at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival.

The One Piece TV series, One Piece: Baron Omatsuri, and the Secret Island film were all directed by Mamoru Hosoda, who fans will also recognise. Following its success with The Boy and the Beast, which won multiple animation awards, he went on to write and direct the screenplay for Wolf Children, which was his first screenplay and second feature. He became well-known thanks to his work on Mirai, which follows a 4-year-old boy who is having a hard time adjusting to the arrival of a younger sister in the family. The film received nominations for the Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice Awards and won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Given that Hosoda is renowned for his character designs, portrayal of magic, and heartwarming storylines, it is unclear how Scarlet will turn out.