Opening this week in the US, When Marnie Was There (PG rated for "thematic elements and smoking") is an animated feature financed by Japan advertising giant Dentsu, the agency for Japan Tobacco.
The film is distributed in the US by Gkids, an independent that releases films from Studio Ghibli, a renowned animation company in Tokyo. Gkids founded and produces New York’s annual International Children’s Film Festival. 2015 festival sponsors include the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The New York Times, Variety and Whole Foods.
Another PG-rated animated feature film with smoking released in the US by Gkids, with Dentsu financing, is From Up on Poppy Hill (2012), rated PG for "mild thematic elements and some incidental smoking images”). That movie was co-produced by The Walt Disney Company, which has since ended its cooperation with Ghibli.
Dentsu is also credited as a producer on Universal's Fast & Furious film series, beginning with Fast & Furious (2009), whose smoking went unmentioned in its MPAA rating descriptor. Three later Fast & Furious films, also with Dentsu’s participation, were smokefree.
Smoking:
- 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
- The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
- Fast & Furious (2009)
Smokefree:
- Fast Five (2011)
- Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
- Furious 7 (2014)