Makoto Shinkai is coming back — and Crunchyroll has already claimed its seat at the premiere. Sony Pictures Entertainment and Crunchyroll announced on 11–12 August 2026 that they have jointly acquired global distribution rights to the director’s still-untitled eighth feature film. The deal positions Crunchyroll as the primary streaming home for the film across most of the world. The one catch? A large portion of Asia — the region that arguably loves Shinkai’s work most intensely — sits outside that agreement.
What We Know About the Deal
Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment struck the agreement to distribute Shinkai’s next film across territories described as outside Japan and India, with some reports characterising the exclusion zone as broader — covering Asia as a whole, with India carved back in as an exception. The exact territorial boundaries have not been spelled out in official press materials, and the ambiguity matters a great deal to fans in this part of the world.
What is not ambiguous: Singapore is not covered by the Crunchyroll deal. Whether the exclusion zone is “outside Japan and India” or “outside Asia except India,” Singapore falls inside it either way. That means local fans will be watching for a separate theatrical or streaming announcement from a regional distributor — the same situation that played out for Suzume in 2022, when Encore Films handled Singapore distribution.
Shinkai’s Eighth Feature
This is Shinkai’s first film since Suzume (2022), which earned over US$300 million at the worldwide box office and picked up a Golden Globe nomination for Best Animated Feature Film. Before that came Weathering With You (2019) and the global phenomenon Your Name (2016), which remains one of the highest-grossing anime films of all time.
The new film is Shinkai’s eighth feature overall. No title, plot synopsis, or release date has been announced. In an X post from January 2026, Shinkai offered his clearest signal yet that something was close: “It looks like this will be the year I can finally share concrete details about the new movie I have been preparing for a long time. We are all having fun creating it together.”
More recently, the director has described the theatrical premiere as “probably not far away,” though without a specific window. Early speculation, drawing on production signals and Shinkai’s comments in Japanese media, suggests the new film may move away from the romance-driven template of his recent trilogy and explore science-fiction territory — though nothing has been confirmed.
What This Means for Singapore Fans
For viewers here, the immediate takeaway is patience. The Crunchyroll and Sony global rollout will not include Singapore, which means the theatrical window and any streaming availability will depend entirely on a separate licensing deal with a local or regional distributor. If Suzume is any guide, that deal will come — Encore Films brought it to cinemas here — but fans should not expect to line up a Crunchyroll subscription and call it done.
We will be tracking any regional distribution announcements as they come. In the meantime, you can revisit the last chapter with the official Suzume trailer below — a reminder of just how high the bar is set for whatever Shinkai has been quietly building.
Are you hyped for Shinkai’s next film? Let us know in the comments what you hope to see — and whether you are holding out for a local cinema run or streaming the moment it hits wherever it does.