The anime film Scarlet, a Shakespearean-inspired retelling of Hamlet from director Mamoru Hosoda, has found new life on streaming despite a lukewarm box office run when it opened in cinemas. The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 2025 before reaching US cinemas in February 2026, and although it underperformed commercially compared with recent anime hits, it was well received by critics and fans, and its streaming resurgence highlights how the format can give theatrically modest films a second chance to find an audience.

Scarlet has climbed to number eight on HBO Max's worldwide Top 10 Movie chart, ranking between Gunslingers and Practical Magic. Directed by Hosoda, known for Belle and Mirai, the film follows a 16th-century Danish princess who awakens in the Otherworld after failing to kill her uncle Claudius, her father's murderer, and continues her quest for revenge alongside a modern-day Japanese paramedic named Hijiri, while Claudius builds an army of the dead. Its streaming success comes amid a broader boom for anime films, with titles such as Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle and Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc breaking box office records and prompting franchises like Solo Leveling to favour cinema releases over further television seasons.