{ "id": "epv7aqz568", "slug": "digimon-adventure-the-movie", "title": "Digimon Adventure: The Movie", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "label": "Animated and short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-shorts-series", "label": "Animated short films and studio cartoon series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-shorts-series" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000: Animated and short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "label": "Animated and short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Digimon Adventure: The Movie (劇場版デジモンアドベンチャー) is the 20-minute 1999 Toei short directed by Mamoru Hosoda, showing Tai and Kari's first Digimon encounter; it was later recut into Digimon: The Movie (2000).", "snippet": "Digimon Adventure: The Movie (劇場版デジモンアドベンチャー) is the 20-minute 1999 Toei short directed by Mamoru Hosoda, showing Tai and Kari's first Digimon encounter; it was later recut into Digimon: The Movie (2000).", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-shorts-series", "markdown": "# Digimon Adventure: The Movie\n\n**Digimon Adventure: The Movie** (*Digimon Adventure*, 劇場版デジモンアドベンチャー) is a 20-minute Japanese animated short film released on March 6, 1999, the first theatrical work in the Digimon franchise. Directed by [Mamoru Hosoda](https://www.edgepedia.org/mamoru-hosoda), written by Reiko Yoshida, and distributed by Toei, it depicts the first encounter between the children Taichi and Hikari Yagami and a Digital Monster, and it premiered one day before the Digimon Adventure television series began broadcasting.[1](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/161758) • [2](https://corp.toei-anim.co.jp/ja/press/press-6270027316284665314.html)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Japanese title | 劇場版デジモンアドベンチャー (*Digimon Adventure*)[1](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/161758) |\n| Release | March 6, 1999, distributed by Toei; 20 minutes, 35 mm, 1.85:1 aspect ratio[1](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/161758) |\n| Director | Mamoru Hosoda, his first directed animated film[1](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/161758) • [3](https://cdn-media.festival-cannes.com/film_film/0002/68/bc81a09e119a4d7d4fd77c766b45ee278d1917fc.pdf) |\n| Main staff | Original concept Akiyoshi Hongo; script Reiko Yoshida; animation director Takaaki Yamashita; music Takanori Arisawa[4](https://www.kinenote.com/sp/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=31665) |\n| Theme song | \"Butter-Fly\" performed by Koji Wada[4](https://www.kinenote.com/sp/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=31665) |\n| Premiere program | '99 Spring Toei Anime Fair, alongside Dr. Slump: Arale's Surprising Burn and Yu-Gi-Oh![5](https://digimonadventure.fandom.com/wiki/Digimon_Adventure_%28movie%29) |\n| US recut | Combined into *Digimon: The Movie* (October 6, 2000, 1h 22m, US gross $9.6 million)[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/digimon_the_movie) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story\n\nThe short is set before the television series and follows the young Taichi (Tai) and his sister Hikari (Kari) at their apartment building. One night, every electronic device in the building begins malfunctioning without explanation, and a Digital Monster egg (a \"Digitama\") emerges from the family computer's monitor. The creature that hatches, Botamon, bonds with the two children and grows through its evolution stages into Koromon and then Agumon.[1](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/161758) • [7](https://hollywoodtheatre.org/show/digimon-the-movie-2000/)\n\nThe climax is the battle at Highton View Terrace, in which Greymon fights the fearsome Parrotmon to protect the children and their neighborhood.[7](https://hollywoodtheatre.org/show/digimon-the-movie-2000/) This encounter establishes the origin of the DigiDestined children whose later adventures form the television series.[7](https://hollywoodtheatre.org/show/digimon-the-movie-2000/)\n\n## Production\n\nThe film was the first theatrical adaptation of the Digimon property, based on the *Digital Monster* virtual-pet game in which players raise monsters to become the strongest \"Digimon.\"[1](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/161758) At the time the [Adventure](https://www.edgepedia.org/adventure) project began, the franchise had almost no story material and no characters other than the Digimon themselves; even whether Digimon could speak had not been settled in the source material.[8](https://wikimon.net/Digimon_Adventure)\n\nMamoru Hosoda, born in Toyama in 1967, directed it as his first animated film after coming up through [Toei Animation](https://www.edgepedia.org/toei-animation)'s internal directing exam system.[3](https://cdn-media.festival-cannes.com/film_film/0002/68/bc81a09e119a4d7d4fd77c766b45ee278d1917fc.pdf) • [9](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/interviews/bringing-baby-hosoda-mamoru-mirai) He later described his approach as depicting \"unrealistic things in a realistic way,\" and he has said that Toei Animation functioned \"like a school\" for him, a framework within which he could still make the film his own.[9](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/interviews/bringing-baby-hosoda-mamoru-mirai)\n\n## Release and reception\n\nThe short premiered on March 6, 1999, as part of the '99 Spring Toei Anime Fair, and the first episode of the [Digimon Adventure](https://www.edgepedia.org/digimon-adventure-1999-tv-series) television series aired on Fuji TV the following day.[5](https://digimonadventure.fandom.com/wiki/Digimon_Adventure_%28movie%29) • [2](https://corp.toei-anim.co.jp/ja/press/press-6270027316284665314.html) A promotional exhibition called the \"Summer Vacation Digimon Adventure Gathering\" was held at [Tokyo Tower](https://www.edgepedia.org/tokyo-tower) in July 1999.[8](https://wikimon.net/Digimon_Adventure)\n\nCommercially, the short did not achieve significant success on its initial release. Hosoda stated that it underperformed compared to contemporary anime films such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, and that some criticism was directed at its darker tone; he cited this experience as one of the factors that shaped his approach to the 2000 sequel short, *[Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!](https://www.edgepedia.org/digimon-adventure-our-war-game)*[8](https://wikimon.net/Digimon_Adventure) The franchise's long-term viability was instead reinforced by the Digivice toy line, whose development began later than anticipated and whose commercial success arrived after the television series was already well underway.[8](https://wikimon.net/Digimon_Adventure)\n\n## The American recut\n\nIn 2000, Saban Entertainment and Fox combined this short with two later Japanese films, *Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!* (2000, 41 minutes) and *Digimon Adventure 02: Hurricane Touchdown* (2000, 65 minutes), into a single 82-minute English-language feature, *Digimon: The Movie*, released theatrically in the United States on October 6, 2000.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/digimon_the_movie) • [7](https://hollywoodtheatre.org/show/digimon-the-movie-2000/) The three source shorts together contain more than 30 minutes of material that was removed from the recut.[7](https://hollywoodtheatre.org/show/digimon-the-movie-2000/) The recut was credited to directors Mamoru Hosoda, Shigeyasu Yamauchi, Jeff Nimoy, and Bob Buchholz, with Joshua Seth voicing Tai and [Lara Jill Miller](https://www.edgepedia.org/lara-jill-miller) voicing Kari, and it earned $9.6 million at the US box office against a production budget reported at $5 million.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/digimon_the_movie) • [10](https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/compassionate-neo-traditionalism-in-hosoda-mamoru-s-animation-movies/pdf) Critics were unenthusiastic: the film holds a 25% Tomatometer score from 40 reviews against a 66% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/digimon_the_movie)\n\n## Legacy\n\nThe short is now regarded as the starting point of Hosoda's career. He followed it with *Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!*, a sequel about a malicious Digimon rampaging across the internet, which is where he \"began to gain notoriety.\"[3](https://cdn-media.festival-cannes.com/film_film/0002/68/bc81a09e119a4d7d4fd77c766b45ee278d1917fc.pdf) The digital-battleground premise of that sequel prefigures his later original films *Summer Wars* (2009) and *Belle* (2022), and the BFI has described the two Digimon shorts as the cartoons that first drew the industry's attention to his talents.[9](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/interviews/bringing-baby-hosoda-mamoru-mirai) The original Japanese films returned to theaters for their 25th anniversary, including a 2026 South Korean rerelease of Hosoda's first two Digimon films.[7](https://hollywoodtheatre.org/show/digimon-the-movie-2000/) • [11](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0313441/credits/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [デジモンアドベンチャー (1999), allcinema](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/161758)\n2. [3/6「デジモンアドベンチャー」20周年スタート！！, Toei Animation press release](https://corp.toei-anim.co.jp/ja/press/press-6270027316284665314.html)\n3. [Mamoru Hosoda biography, Festival de Cannes](https://cdn-media.festival-cannes.com/film_film/0002/68/bc81a09e119a4d7d4fd77c766b45ee278d1917fc.pdf)\n4. [デジモンアドベンチャー, KINENOTE](https://www.kinenote.com/sp/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=31665)\n5. [Digimon Adventure (movie), DigimonWiki](https://digimonadventure.fandom.com/wiki/Digimon_Adventure_%28movie%29)\n6. [Digimon: The Movie, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/digimon_the_movie)\n7. [DIGIMON: THE MOVIES (1-3), Hollywood Theatre](https://hollywoodtheatre.org/show/digimon-the-movie-2000/)\n8. [Digimon Adventure, Wikimon](https://wikimon.net/Digimon_Adventure)\n9. [Bringing up baby: Hosoda Mamoru on Mirai, Sight and Sound, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/interviews/bringing-baby-hosoda-mamoru-mirai)\n10. [Compassionate Neo-Traditionalism in Hosoda Mamoru's Animation Movies, Russian Japanology Review](https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/compassionate-neo-traditionalism-in-hosoda-mamoru-s-animation-movies/pdf)\n11. [Digimon Adventure: Our War Game! credits, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0313441/credits/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Animated and short films › Animated short films and studio cartoon series*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/digimon-adventure-the-movie", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/digimon-adventure-the-movie.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Digimon Adventure: The Movie\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/digimon-adventure-the-movie. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Digimon Adventure: The Movie](https://www.edgepedia.org/digimon-adventure-the-movie)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/digimon-adventure-the-movie](https://www.edgepedia.org/digimon-adventure-the-movie). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Digimon Adventure: The Movie\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/digimon-adventure-the-movie. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Digimon Adventure: The Movie is the 20-minute 1999 Toei short directed by Mamoru Hosoda, showing Tai and Kari's first Digimon encounter; it was later recut into Digimon: The Movie." }