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Stand By Me Doraemon 3D CG Film Opens in the Philippines in June

Philippine cinema chain SM Cinema began streaming an English-dubbed trailer of the Stand By Me Doraemon 3D CG film on Thursday. The trailer confirms that the movie will open in the Philippines on June 17.

SM Cinema confirmed in its Facebook page that it will show the film dubbed in English. The film will be the first Doraemon movie opening in the Philippines.

The manga creator duo Fujiko Fujio (Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko) created Doraemon in 1969. In the story, the robotic cat was sent by a boy in the future to the present day to help the boy's hapless grandfather, Nobita. Doraemon, Nobita, and other children deal with everyday childhood issues, solve (and cause) problems with the gadgets in Doraemon's fourth-dimensional pocket, and embark on escapades through time and space.

49-year-old Takashi Yamazaki (Returner, Always: Sunset on Third Street, Ballad, Space Battleship Yamato) and 48-year-old Ryûichi Yagi (Pénélope tête en l'air line director, Moyashimon 3D CG director) helmed this 36th Doraemon film after collaborating on Japan's first feature-length 3D CG anime film, Friends: Mononoke Shima no Naki. Yamazaki also wrote the screenplay.

The film premiered in Japan on August 8 last year, ranking #1 at the Japanese box office on its opening weekend, and earned 9,184,183,031 yen (US$77,933,763) by its 15th weekend.

JLine Comics & Marketing Corp. acquired the license to the Doraemon manga in 2009, and published the 45th volume in Tagalog last December 22. The first and second Doraemon TV anime series aired on the GMA Network channel in the Philippines beginning in 1999.

Update: Removed incorrect statement about the film being an SM Cinema exclusive, and corrected the date of the Doraemon anime's GMA premiere from 1992 to 1999. Thanks JM Melegrito and Kira Yamato Mendoza for the correction.