J.J. Abrams developing live-action adaptation of Japanese anime Your Name

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

With a few exceptions, I've never really broken into the world of anime, so it's probably not a huge surprise that YOUR NAME hasn't crossed my radar until now, but the blockbuster Japanese animated film has certainly been on J.J. Abrams' radar as it's been announced that Paramount Pictures and J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot have snagged the rights to develop a live-action adaptation of the film.

YOUR NAME tells the story of a teenage boy and girl from different backgrounds who discover that they can swap bodies. They become desperate to cross space and time to find a way to meet and stop an impending disaster. Paramount and Bad Robot will be developing the live-action take on YOUR NAME alongside Toho Co., and ARRIVAL screenwriter Eric Heisserer will be penning the screenplay. YOUR NAME was created, written, and directed by Makoto Shinkai, who, in a statement, said:

Your Name is a film created with the innate imaginations of a Japanese team and put together in a domestic medium. When such a work is imbued with Hollywood filmmaking, we may see new possibilities that we had been completely unaware of. I am looking forward to the live-action film with excited anticipation.

Genki Kawamura, one of the producers of the original film who will also be producing the live-action adaptation, added, "Just like in the film it feels like a dream. Mr. Abrams and his team have captivated audiences in their masterful reinvention of known properties. And Mitsuha and Taki have found a perfect narrator, Mr. Heisserer, to tell their sci-fi infused love story, which gave the film such drive. The meetings so far have been creatively stimulating with fantastic ideas that no doubt will make for a great movie. I am greatly honored to work with these incredible creators in bringing to audiences the Hollywood live-action version of ‘Your Name." The film was a huge success in Japan, where it topped the box office for 12 non-consecutive weekends. Grossing over $350 million worldwide, YOUR NAME has gone on to becoming the highest-grossing anime film of all-time, dethroning Hayao Miyazaki's SPIRITED AWAY.