Makoto Shinkai, the director of critically acclaimed animated blockbusters such asYour NameandWeathering with You, has announced his new movie. Shinkai shared the first key art for the film, titledSuzume Locking Up the Doors.
The filmmaker will reunite with past collaborators on the project, due out in Japan in the fall of 2022.Masayoshi Tanaka, with whom Shinkai collaborated on bothYour NameandWeathering with You, will design the characters.Kenichi TsuchiyaandTakumi Tanji, both of whom worked onYour Name, will serve as the animation director and art director, respectively.
Described as a “road movie” on thefilm’s official website,Suzume Locking Up the Doorsfeatures a 17-year-old protagonist named Suzume, who is pulled into an adventure when she follows a young traveler to the mountains. The traveler tells her that he is looking for a mysterious door, surrounded by ruins. As if drawn by something, Suzume unlocks the door, unsure of what is on the other side. But her action causes several other doors to open all across Japan, inviting unknown danger into the world. To undo the damage, Suzume goes on a “door-locking journey.”
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The key art shows a mysterious white door at the center of a pond, surrounded by ruins. It teases the same breathtaking visual style that has earned Shinkai the title of “the new Miyazaki” among fans.
No cast announcements have been made so far, but Shinkai will direct from his own script, as always. The filmmaker has won numerous awards both in Japan and abroad, including the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Animated Film forYour Name.Weathering with Youwas released in 2019 and was selected as Japan’s official submission for the 92nd Academy Awards in the Best International Film category.
Shinkai has come to be known for his striking visual sense and the emotional weight of his stories.In an essayfor Collider published earlier this year, he wrote about why he wanted to makeWeathering with You, a film about climate change:
“I want to make a film where a boy and girl actively choose that world. Let’s depict a couple who will head towards a place of no return, brightly and positively. And if the audience share their choice with surprise and sympathy, we will be able to find a meaning in making this unrighteous story into a film of our times.”
While Shinkai was already a fairly successful filmmaker in his native Japan, it was only after his last two films that he crossed over to the West.J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robotpromptly commissioned a live-action remakeofYour Name, withMinaridirectorLee Isaac Chungattached. But the Oscar nominee departed the project earlier this year, citing scheduling difficulties.
You can check out the first visual art for the film:
