Boruto: Naruto the Movie

Boruto: Naruto the Movie
A film poster featuring fictional characters. It includes two adults, six teenagers and an unknown person in the background.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byHiroyuki Yamashita
Screenplay byMasashi Kishimoto[1]
Ukyō Kodachi
Story byMasashi Kishimoto
Based onNaruto
by Masashi Kishimoto
Starring
Music byYasuharu Takanashi
Yaiba
Production
company
Distributed byToho
Release date
  • August 7, 2015 (2015-08-07)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Box officeUS$39.5 million[2][3]

Boruto: Naruto the Movie is a 2015 Japanese animated martial arts fantasy film and the directorial debut of Hiroyuki Yamashita. It is based on Masashi Kishimoto's manga and anime Naruto, and is the second film to be a part of the canonical Naruto storyline, being a sequel to the manga series. It stars Yūko Sanpei, Junko Takeuchi, Kokoro Kikuchi and Noriaki Sugiyama. Set after the finale of Naruto, the film focuses on the title character Boruto Uzumaki, son of Naruto's protagonist, Naruto Uzumaki, who cannot stay with his family due to being the leader of his ninja village. Vigilante Sasuke Uchiha returns to the village with warnings about two beings who might become a big threat to the world peace the ninjas managed to bring about in the original series.

The film was first teased in the post-credits scene of the previous film, The Last: Naruto the Movie (2014). Kishimoto took a large role in the making of The Last, handling the script and character designs. However, Kishimoto took an even larger role in the making of this film, handling the script, characters designs and screenplay. This brought him difficulties, because of which he required help from other staff members, such as the writer Ukyō Kodachi and director Yamashita. They created new scenes that left a deep impression on Kishimoto.

Released in August 2015, the film became the franchise's highest-grossing film, and its home media versions had good sales to the point of becoming Japan's best-selling releases in 2016. Critical reception of the movie has been mostly positive, with writers praising the animation, well-animated fight choreography as well as Boruto's growth, but it was criticized for its unmemorable antagonists along with Boruto's relationship with his father not being explored deeply. Ukyo Kodachi and artist Mikio Ikemoto adapted the film as the first story arc of Boruto (2016), a manga sequel of Naruto, with both it and its anime adaptation (in which it is the seventh story arc) altering some details with added content.

  1. ^ "Boruto -Naruto the Movie- Film Main Staff, Illustrated Poster Revealed". Anime News Network. April 2, 2015. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015.
  2. ^ "Top 39 Grossing Domestic Japanese Films of 2015 Listed". Anime News Network. January 30, 2016. Archived from the original on February 4, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  3. ^ "Boruto: Naruto the Movie". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on November 5, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2016.