Funimation Entertainment Acquires Rights To “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”

Funimation Entertainment announced its acquisition of “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” – the 2006 film and first, non-franchise theatrical release from acclaimed director Mamoru Hosoda. Funimation has secured the exclusive North American rights to home entertainment, video on demand and broadcast distribution of the film as part of its agreement with Kadokawa. With the new acquisition of “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” and prior acquisitions of “Summer Wars,” “Wolf Children” and “The Boy and The Beast,” Funimation now holds rights to all four Mamoru Hosoda masterpieces. In homage to the film’s theme of time travel, Funimation will be releasing a special home video edition of “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” later this year to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of its theatrical release.

“We’re excited to now be the exclusive U.S. distributor of all four of Mamoru Hosoda’stheatrical masterpieces with the addition of ‘The Girl Who Leapt Through Time,'” said Gen Fukunaga, CEO and founder of Funimation. “‘The Girl Who Leapt Through Time’ gave audiences a taste of Hosoda’s cinematic magic, and now – ten years later, audiences still crave his films.”

“The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” was Mamoru Hosoda’s non-franchise movie debut as a director and kicked off his unbroken streak of box office hits. The film was so well received in Japan that it was honored as the inaugural recipient of the Animation of the Year award from the Japan Academy Awards. Hosoda followed-up “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” with “Summer Wars” in 2010, “Wolf Children” in 2013 and most recently “The Boy and The Beast” in 2015.

“We look forward to taking Hosoda fans back in time with a special home video release of ‘The Girl Who Leapt Through Time,'” said Mike DuBoise, EVP and COO of Funimation. “This film – the one that started it all – showcases Hosoda’s unique formula of the intimate and emotional, combined with the real world and fantasy, mixed with comedy and drama – a recipe that no other director has been able to duplicate.”

Hosoda’s newest film “The Boy and The Beast” opens in select theaters nationwide on March 4, 2016. “The Boy and The Beast” has garnered critical acclaim of its own and was nominated for Animation of the Year at the 39th Annual Japanese Academy Awards as well as for Best Animated Feature-Independent category at the 43rd Annual Annie Awards, which recognize the best in the field of animation.

After waking up late, flunking her pop quiz, embarrassing herself on numerous occasions, and starting a fire in her home economics class, high school student Makoto Konno figures she’s just having one of those days. And just when she thinks she’s made it through, the brakes on her bike malfunction putting her on a collision course with a speeding train. The life-ending accident would have been the perfect end to the worst day ever, but the strangest thing happens—she leaps backwards in time.

After unlocking her new ability, Makoto does what any teenager would do. She re-takes tests, corrects embarrassing situations, and sleeps in as late as she wants, never thinking that her carefree time travelling could have a negative effect on the people she cares about. By the time she realizes the damage she’s done, she only has a few leaps left to make things right.