The anime public has been left to wonder about what Mamoru Hosoda is planning for a follow up to his 2015 hit,
The Boy and the Beast for quite some time. The former Toei and Madhouse director has garnered quite the following since he broke off on his own, beginning with the critically acclaimed
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time,
Summer Wars and
Wolf Children. According to Variety, his next film is titled
Mirai and it's expected to be completed by 2018.
Per Variety the fim is described as:
Mirai follows a 4-year old boy who is struggling to cope with the arrival of a little sister in the family, until things turn magical. A mysterious garden in the backyard of the boy's home becomes a gateway allowing the child to travel back in time and encounter his mother as a little girl and his great-grandfather as a young man. These fantasy-filled adventures allow the child to change his perspective and help him become the big brother he was meant to be.
Naturally, Hosoda is producing the film at his company, Studio Chizu. Variety was able to get the details on the project because Hosoda and his team of investors are currently shopping the project for international distribution at the Cannes Film Festival.
Hosoda told Variety that this new project looks to explore the theme of siblings and is based on his own personal experiences as a father and his daughter feeling jealous of her new sibling. Hosoda's eldest daughter is named Mirai, which is where the film gains its title.