'Boy and The Beast' Comes to US Cinemas This March

The Boy and The Beast, the latest, Annie and Japan Academy Award nominated feature from Mamoru Hosoda made it's US debut at last year's Fantastic Fest. It also received some screenings in LA late last year in a bid to qualify for The Oscars. Although that dream was ultimately not to be, wider audiences Stateside will finally get their chance to see the film in 2016.

US distributor Funimation have now announced the film will open in a limited run in cinemas starting March 4th. The company has revealed that the film will be playing in both original language and English dubbed formats. The English cast is to be lead by John Swasey, Luci Christian, Eric Vale and Monica Rial. Even better, the dub is apparently being produced in close co-operation with Hosoda himself. Expect a home entertainment release to follow later in the year.

The Boy and The Beast follows a young boy named Kyuta who crosses over to the world of beasts, where a gruff but kind-hearted warrior beast named Kumatetsu takes him under his wing. Hosoda's fourth original feature opened in Japan last year, where it became the second highest-grossing Japanese film of 2015. It also screened in cinemas in Australia last year via Madman,

Studio Canal has acquired distribution rights for the film in the United Kingdom but has yet to announce a release date.

Funimation has also released a set of new images from the film, some of which you can find below.