The Sakura Card Captor movie comes to Hong Kong and Macao theaters for the first time

The first Sakura Card Captor movie to hit Japanese theaters will finally make its way to screens in Hong Kong and Macao. Gekijōban Cardcaptor Sakura: Fūin Sareta Card, known in the region as 劇場版百變小櫻之再見MAGIC咭, will screen on December 10, 2026, with Cantonese dubbing and Chinese subtitles. Distribution is handled by Mighty Media International (Hong Kong).

It has been 26 years since the original Japanese release in July 2000. All this time, the movie had never been shown in theaters in Hong Kong or Macao. TVB Jade aired it on television in December 2002, but the big-screen experience remained pending for an entire generation of viewers who grew up with the series.

The closure the series left open

The story picks up right after episode 70 of the TV series. Sakura Kinomoto has already turned the 52 Clow Cards into Sakura Cards and spends her sixth-grade summer rehearsing for the Nadeshiko festival play. Everything changes when a blank card, the "Nothing" card, awakens and starts devouring the other Sakura Cards. The protagonist loses her powers, and Syaoran Li, who lives in Hong Kong, travels back to Japan to help her.

Alongside Meiling Li and Tomoyo Daidouji, Sakura must unite her magic with the feelings she shares with Syaoran. That is how she transforms the "Nothing" card into "Hope," the card that brings closure to the confession the TV series left unresolved. For viewers at the time, this movie was the missing piece.

A special bond with Hong Kong

The return of this film carries particular weight in the region. The series aired on TVB with Cantonese dubbing and accompanied thousands of children and teenagers for years. On top of that, Syaoran Li is a character originally from Hong Kong, and the franchise's first movie, Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie, had the Chinese title 百變小櫻之相約在香港.

The movie was directed by Morio Asaka, with a script by Nanase Ohkawa and animation by Madhouse. Japan already had a remastered version for the 25th anniversary in July 2025. Now, audiences in Hong Kong and Macao will be able to see it in theaters with the dubbing many remember from their childhood.

Reactions on social media were immediate. "I waited 26 years, I can finally make up for this lesson in the theater," one user wrote. Another joked about bringing their childhood Clow Cards to the screening to reunite with their younger self.