Anime Classics Hit Theaters as Businesses Begin Opening Back Up

As some businesses are beginning to attempt to re-open in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, a number of theaters in Japan are looking to do so by playing some of the biggest anime hits of the past few years with the likes of Weathering With You and Your Name, as well as one of the biggest for the kaiju-verse in Shin Godzilla. As cinema chains have been closed in Japan for over a month, it seems as if the country’s state of emergency is being lifted slightly with several chains beginning to open their doors to patrons.

With profits for movie theaters having gone down insane degrees as a result of most of them being closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the question of what theaters would play when they began re-opening was one that was on the minds of many cinema goers throughout the world. While theaters may re-open, they might not have any new movies to play on their screens, and it seems as if Japan is attempting to open its movie theater locations with some of their biggest movies of the past few years. With theater chains in Japan such as Toho Cinemas, Cinema Sunshine, and Korona World listing some of their open locations, this is an expected strategy for where they are hoping to gain some lost revenue.

Weathering With You and Your Name are easily two of the most popular anime movies that were released in theaters in the past few years, with both of these films directed by creator Makoto Shinkai. Shinkai created beautiful worlds with each of these films, focusing on supernatural events taking place that bring together star crossed lovers from across time and space. Both films were also released around the world, and managed to make some additional bank when it came to their runs in North America!

Shin Godzilla might not have made the same amount of money as its recent blockbuster cousin of Godzilla: King of the Monsters that was created in the West, but it is thought of as one of the greatest kaiju entries to date. Created by the same mind that brought Neon Genesis Evangelion to life, the story of a very different version of Godzilla focused as much on the lizard king as the world that was “cutting red tape” in order to combat it.

What do you think of theaters re-opening with anime classics? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime!

Via Crunchyroll