14 DAY TRIAL // Hello Kitty doesn’t have a mouth because, apparently, she smiles with the eyes. However, that will not prevent her from saying her lines when she gets her big chance in front of the camera: Deadline confirms that a Hello Kitty movie is currently in development.
Fox Animation has acquired the film rights from Sanrio International, which is looking to expand its immensely popular brand by bringing it to Hollywood. Not that Hello Kitty isn’t already big worldwide, but getting her own movie would help her reach out to an even wider audience.
Apparently, Fox and Sanrio are determined to spend as much money as they have to to make this into a hit. The aforementioned trade publication notes that the feature film will be getting an estimated budget of anywhere between $160 million (€145.1 million) and $240 million (€217.6 million), including promotion and advertising.
That’s a lot of money to invest in an animated film, but then again, Hello Kitty isn’t your average animated character, so she gets the best of the best.
Fox and Sanrio are looking at an estimated 2019 global release, which would explain the lack of more details on the project. On the downside, this means that it will be another while until we find out if more Sanrio favorites will be joining Hello Kitty on her adventure and what exactly it might entail.
Keep an eye on this space for when that happens.