It has been announced that a sequel to the animated feature film "Poupelle of Chimney Town," based on a picture book by Akihiro Nishino of the comedy duo "King Kong," which was released in 2020 and became a hit, "Poupelle of Chimney Town: The Clock Tower of Promise," will be produced and released in spring 2026. Following on from the previous film, original author Nishino will be executive producer and scriptwriter, with Hirota Yusuke as director. Like the previous film, it will be produced by STUDIO4℃.
The sequel will be a significantly larger-scale production based on the picture book "Tick-Tock: The Clock Tower of Promise" released in 2019. The story is set in Chimney Town, one year after the previous film, "Poupelle of Chimney Town the Movie," which has regained the blue sky on Halloween. The town has become more industrially active, and Lubicchi has overcome the sense of loss he felt after losing Poupelle and is beginning to make an effort to take his next step... This is the story. In the previous film, actress Mana Ashida voiced the main character, Lubicchi, but for the sequel, a new Lubicchi will be chosen through auditions.
Nishino commented, "It's been a long time since the release of the previous film, but during that time we have been preparing behind the scenes. I am truly happy to finally be able to announce the release of the sequel to everyone. In the limited time until the release, I would like to sincerely consider the meaning of sharing this story in this day and age, and why this expression has to be through film, and I would like to devote my life to this work. At the heart of the story is an experience I myself had in my early twenties, the days when I waited simply for a friend who had gone far away and would never come back. I wrote this story while digging up the memories of that day. I would be delighted if you could watch it at the cinema with your loved ones."
Producer Eiko Tanaka of STUDIO4℃ said, "We were able to make it work in the previous work because it was a single town called 'Chimney Town,' but this time it's a world of imagination, and two different worlds intersect. It's hard enough just to draw the smoky, smoky 'Chimney Town' beautifully, but there are a considerable number of new characters from the new other world, and there's dancing, fighting, and singing. By the time we realized this was going to be bad, it was already too late. We were captivated by the charm of this work, and all of our staff were obsessed with Nishino's magic, trying to make it even more interesting. We thought there would be no sequel because we couldn't write 'Poupelle of Chimney Town' without Poupelle, but we were surprised by the depth of Nishino's love for his friends. I was moved to learn that this work is also based on Nishino's original experience. Please look forward to the culmination of the staff's tireless efforts and Nishino's world of imagination."
Nishino's original illustration of the main character, Lubicchi, was also released. In the "Special Unveiling Video," Nishino can be seen sitting at a desk, drawing the illustration in silence with his pencil. Pre-orders for the movie ticket card using the illustration have begun.
