Hello Kitty Movie Release in 2028 Notes Sanrio's Bet on Hollywood

Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema will release a Hello Kitty feature film on July 21, 2028, marking the first theatrical outing for the 54-year-old Japanese character franchise.

The project, directed by Leo Matsuda and produced by Beau Flynn's FlynnPictureCo., represents a significant shift for Sanrio Co., the Tokyo-based company that has historically kept tight control over its intellectual property. Warner announced the partnership in 2019, securing rights to Hello Kitty and other Sanrio characters including My Melody, Gudetama and the Twin Stars for film production.

The film will incorporate other Sanrio characters alongside Hello Kitty, according to industry publication Anime News Network. The July 2028 release date was confirmed by Warner Bros. in October 2025, following years of production uncertainty and changes to the creative team.

Sanrio Expands Beyond Traditional Merchandise Strategy

For Sanrio, the Warner deal marks a calculated push beyond its traditional stronghold in Asia. Since its creation in 1974, Hello Kitty has generated more than $80 billion in lifetime retail sales across 130 countries, making it one of the world's most valuable character properties. Yet the company has largely confined its audiovisual output to direct-to-video releases and television programming with limited reach outside Japan.

That approach has begun to change. In recent years, Sanrio has expanded its streaming presence with "Gudetama: An Eggcellent Adventure" on Netflix and "Hello Kitty: Super Style!," a preschool animated series that debuted on Canal+ and Amazon Kids+ in 2022 through a partnership with French producer Watch Next Media.

The 2028 theatrical release represents a more ambitious gamble. Unlike Sanrio's previous digital-first content, the Hello Kitty film is designed for global theatrical distribution. The hybrid CG-animated feature will blend Western storytelling with Japanese visual elements, according to company filings. The formula is similar to Illumination Entertainment's "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," which grossed $1.36 billion world-wide in 2023.

For Warner Bros., the project fits into a broader strategy of building franchises around established intellectual property. The studio has found success with family-oriented films based on recognizable brands, including its Lego and Minecraft properties. Industry observers say Hello Kitty could anchor Warner's family animation slate in Asian markets while generating sequels and spin-offs if the initial film performs well.

Whether Hello Kitty can translate its retail dominance into box-office success remains an open question. The character's appeal has historically skewed toward merchandise and licensing rather than narrative-driven entertainment. The 2028 film will test whether Sanrio's incremental content experiments have laid sufficient groundwork for a theatrical-scale debut.