Witch on the Holy Night Film Screens in U.S., Canada on January 29

Crunchyroll , Sony Pictures Entertainment to screen film subbed/dubbed

What we know

Crunchyroll announced on Thursday that it and Sony Pictures Entertainment will screen the Mahōtsukai no Yoru ( Witch on the Holy Night ) anime film on January 29, 2027 in the U.S. and Canada. The film will screen in Japanese with English subtitles and with an English dub . The company streamed a trailer:

The story of the original Witch on the Holy Night visual novel is set in the late 1980s, and centers on protagonist Aoko Aozaki, one of two sister heirs to a long family line of modern MAGES. Although she is disinterested in magic, she is suddenly declared as the heir of their family's magical art, and reluctantly begins her apprenticeship under Alice Kuonji, a young witch who lives in a lonely manor atop a hill. Aoko balances her duties of learning the arcane, while also serving as her school's student council president. She also makes the acquaintance of Sōjūrō Shizuki (romanized as Soujyuro Sizuki in the English version of the game), a new transfer student who is unfamiliar with much of the modern world, and contends with the plots of her older sister Tōko Aozaki, who feels that her birthright has been denied.

The original visual novel game's smartphone version will launch on November 20, the same day as the film's opening in Japan

Type-Moon most recently released the game on Steam in December 2023.

Our opinion

A theatrical release is a good fit for a film built around atmosphere, magic and a big-screen presentation. The January date gives audiences something tangible to look forward to, although the real test will be whether the finished film justifies the wait rather than merely making the calendar look exciting.