The great philanthropist and woman-of-the-world Hello Kitty may be best known for the work she’s done making our school supplies and childhood outfits all the more adorable, but she’s actually something of a media mogul as well. Over the years, Hello Kitty has served as the star of three anime films and seven TV series, all released in Japan, ditto two manga series and a hefty sum of video games. But in the four decades she’s spent enchanting this planet (yes, Hello Kitty is turning 45 this year, but for my money she doesn’t look a day over… um, one?), Hello Kitty has never headlined her own American movie. Until now.
Deadline dropped the news that Sanrio and New Line Cinema have opted to partner up for a feature film starring our favorite mouthless feline-humanoid. Given H.K.-To-Her-Friends’ longstanding appeal in the United States, the deal seems actual decades overdue; granted, given the frenzy surrounding Netflix’s adoption of the Sanrio-produced animated series Aggretsuko in 2018, we can presume that the company’s appeal has not waned since the heyday of cute-as-heck pencil cases that reigned through the ’80s and ’90s. (Do grade school kids still use pencil cases? Do they still use pencils? Is written language still en vogue?)
Though Hello Kitty is no doubt the most recognizable figure involved in this new movie deal, she’s not the only of Sanrio’s creations being considered for the big screen: old school Sanrio vets My Melody (a pink-hoodie-wearing rabbit girl) and the Little Twin Stars Kiki and Lala (a nightgown-adorned brother-and-sister duo who somehow manage to traverse the merciless annals of space without want for oxygen), plus the more recent addition Gudetama (a famously lazy egg yolk created in 2013), may also soon get their shot at the limelight.
Thus, we wonder which other Sanrio characters could earn their own movies, or find their way into Hello Kitty’s feature, which is at present without a director, nor a release date. Top tier faves like Keroppi and Badtz-Maru seem like no brainers (love dat Badtz), though I hope due love also finds the likes of Pochacco the dog and Pekkle the oft-dancing duck. The true unsung heroes of our generation.
Images: Sanrio
