Makoto Shinkai, who wrote and directed the 2016 smash-hit animation "Kimi no Na wa." ("Your Name.") said Thursday that his next film, featuring a girl who has the power to stop the rain and clear the sky, is due out next summer.
"Tenki no Ko" ("Weathering With You") will hit screens in Japan on July 19, 2019, with Masayoshi Tanaka serving as the character designer, as he did for "Your Name."
"I've been working on creating a very real entertainment piece that will make you laugh, cry and say, 'It's so thrilling,' as well as arouse your intellectual curiosity," Shinkai told a news conference at a hotel in Tokyo.
"I have used the weather as it is a familiar topic for everybody," the 45-year-old creator said, referring to his main inspirations for making the new film.
Up-and-coming actors Kotaro Daigo and Nana Mori will lend their voices to the main characters in the movie.
The blockbuster "Your Name.," released in August 2016, chalked up box-office revenues of over ¥25 billion ($220 million) in Japan, the second-highest ever among Japanese movies following Hayao Miyazaki's "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" ("Spirited Away"), which generated ¥30.8 billion.
