The full trailer for Mamoru Hosoda’s new feature Belle has been unveiled, along with tantalizing details about the production. The film’s senior creative team is shaping up to be unusually international for a Japanese animated feature.
Veteran Disney character designer Jin Kim has designed the title character, a virtual singer who inhabits the vast online space known as “U.” Kim, who is from South Korea, has worked on films including Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Frozen, and Netflix’s Over the Moon. He also served as character designer and animation director on the Korean feature Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs. See his concept artwork for Belle below.
In addition, Hosoda’s Studio Chizu announced that it is working with Cartoon Saloon, the Irish studio behind the Oscar-nominated Wolfwalkers, on the film. Wolfwalkers directors Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart “will bring their talents to the table along with Mamoru Hosoda to create a never-before-seen world” in the film, according to Chizu. A spokesperson for Chizu confirmed to Cartoon Brew that Cartoon Saloon will work on “background art for fantasy scenes in the internet world.”