'Hello Kitty' becomes movie star in 2019

Hello Kitty getting her own movie shouldn't come to much of a surprise. All things considered, it's a little shocking the famous icon had to wait this long to get her big-screen debut.

Sure enough, however, the silver screen finally called her name. According to Deadline, the famous "feline" (it was revealed last year Hello Kitty is not a cat) gets to frontline her first movie in 2019. Japanese lifestyle company Sanrio is financing and producing the movie, with a budget projected around $160-$240 million.

This is one of the first projects created from the new Sanrio Media & Pictures Entertainment, a company established just last month. And this is just the beginning of their Hollywood endeavors. They have hopes to make more films in the future, with their properties My Melody and Little Twin Sisters under consideration for big-screen treatments. All three celebrated their 40th anniversaries last year.

Overseeing this film is newly appointed chief exec Rehito Hatoayama. Fox Animation acquired the rights to Sanrio's Mr. Men and Little Miss character just this January, so it looks as though they'll get to host the upcoming film under their banner.

What will the story be for this tale? How can they stretch it out into a feature-length film? Those are questions to be asked by the company at the moment. But if they can make an animated movie out of Angry Birds for around the same price, surely they'll find a way.

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