The film opened in Japan on October 30, coming in at #1 in the box office its first weekend. The film has earned a total of ¥1,277,033,413 since debuting in Japanese theaters.
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Funimation screened the film in Canada and the United States on December 3, with screenings in Australia and New Zealand following on December 9. The movie is also set to release in the UK, Ireland, Latin America, and will open in over 40 countries and territories.
Aria of a Starless Night is the first of a new film series based on Reki Kawahara’s Sword Art Online: Progressive light novels. The series is a retelling of the Aincrad arc from the original light novels, and a second film, Scherzo of a Dark Dusk, will open sometime in 2022.
The film is produced by A-1 Pictures. The studio handled all three Sword Art Online anime series as well as the 2017 Ordinal Scale film. Ayako Kohno directed the film, with music by Yuki Kajiura and Kento Toya serving as character designer.
Kohno is best known for his work on Bleach, Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic, and The Seven Deadly Sins the Movie: Prisoners of the Sky. Kajiura has served as the composer for every Sword Art Online animated project and has also done extensive work for the Fate/stay night and Puella Magi Madoka Magica series. Toya has handled the character designs from the start of the animated series, and most recently contributed to the Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway film and The Irregular at Magic High School: Visitor Arc anime.
Yen Press publishes the light novels and manga in English. The anime can be streamed on Crunchyroll and Funimation and is licensed by Aniplex USA.
Source: Anime News Network
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