Makoto Shinkai, who wrote and directed the 2016 smash-hit animation "Kimi no Na wa (your name.)" said Thursday that his next film, featuring a girl who has the power to stop the rain and clear the sky, is due out next summer.
"Tenki no Ko (Weathering With You)" will hit screens in Japan on July 19, 2019, with Masayoshi Tanaka serving as the character designer, as he did for "your name."
"I've been working on creating a very real entertainment piece that will make you laugh, cry and say, 'It's so thrilling,' as well as arouse your intellectual curiosity," Shinkai told a press event at a hotel in Tokyo.
"I have used the weather as it is a familiar topic for everybody," the 45-year-old creator said, referring to what mainly inspired him to make the new film.
Shinkai said on his Twitter account that the people depicted in the film are not role models but those who cannot conform to norms in society. "But I hope their stories will make someone feel this is the movie for them," he said.
新作映画『天気の子』、制作発表させていただきました。身近で壮大で、大いに笑って泣ける(はずの)ドエンタメ映画です。でも同時に、すこしも模範的ではなく、むしろ社会や規範から外れていってしまう人物たちの物語です。でもだからこそこれは自分のための映画だと、誰かに思ってもらえますように。 pic.twitter.com/w4jwTUw0tB
— 新海誠 (@shinkaimakoto) 2018年12月13日
Shinkai chose not to release any promotional video and sound track information as the film's release is "a long way away," he said in a tweet.
Up-and-coming actors Kotaro Daigo and Nana Mori will lend their voice to the main characters in the movie.
The blockbuster "your name.," released in August 2016, chalked up box-office revenues of over 25 billion yen ($220 million) in Japan, the second-highest take ever among Japanese movies, following Hayao Miyazaki's "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away)" which generated 30.8 billion yen.
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(Nana Mori, Makoto Shinkai, Kotaro Daigo)