Looking from the Sky

Looking from the Sky is a 2007 animated romance drama film directed by Robert Fredrickson and produced by Taito Okura, Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Bob Yari. The film is about a girl named Pamela Coleman (Alexa Vega) who one day, while hopsitalized, befriends a boy (Charlie Schlatter) who had been hopsitalized for much of his life due to various birth defects, and the film chronicles the budding relationship between the two of them along with some other events in their lives. It is told through the perspective of an adult Pamela (Julia Roberts) recounting the events to the audience.

Produced by Bob Yari Productions and Playtone and animated by Gonzo, the film was released on August 17, 2007 by Yari Film Group and Paramount Vantage. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise towards the chemistry of the two leads, the animation and voice acting and grossed $84.6 million against a budget of $7 million.

Distribution
After Paramount Pictures forged their distribution deal for Robert Fredrickson's films after the success of Rulers of the City, they were expected to distribute Looking from the Sky as well. The same year production on the film began, Bob Yari consolidated much of his production companies into distributor Yari Film Group, which was expected to still be involved in the project. Because of this, it was a little unclear at the time as to if Paramount would distribute the film in Yari's place or not.

Upon the launch of Paramount Vantage in 2006, it was announced that Yari Film Group and Vantage would both distribute the movie in a 50/50 partnership. Yari would handle the theatrical distribution in the United States whilst Paramount Vantage would distribute it internationally except for in Japan, where the film was instead distributed by GAGA Communications, Inc. Paramount would also cover the worldwide marketing for the film as well as the home media and television rights after release.

Marketing
The movie's first trailer debuted before the release of Freedom Writers on January 5, 2007 and was later attached to the releases of Arthur and the Invisibles, Miss Potter, Catch and Release, Music and Lyrics, Bridge to Terabithia, The Astronaut Farmer, Gray Matters, Wild Hogs, Black Snake Moan and The Namesake, and would also be available for viewing on the movie's website. The second trailer for the film was released in April of that year and was attached to the theatrical releases of Year of the Dog, Next, Kickin' It Old School, Lucky You, Spider-Man 3, Fast Track, Shrek the Third, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Gracie, Ocean's Thirteen and Surf's Up. When asked about why they promoted the film on films such as Black Snake Moan, Paramount stated they were aiming for teen and adult audiences.

A website for the film was launched that same year, with features such as bios and filmographies on the cast and filmmakers, a snyposis on the film, production notes, a stills gallery, a downloadable screensaver, and the film's trailers. The movie's TV spots first began being released in July and ran through September.

Home media
Paramount Home Entertainment released Looking from the Sky on DVD and HD DVD on January 15, 2008. The DVD release came in two editions, a single-disc standard edition and a two-disc "collector's edition", with the single-disc release's only bonus features being an audio commentary, the film's second trailer and a selection of other previews and different language and subtitle options while the second disc on the two-disc set contains three behind-the-scenes featurettes, two deleted scenes, interviews with the cast and crew, production notes, biographies on the cast and crew, the music video for the movie's credits song "Love Will Live On" by Jessica Simpson and a stills gallery; these additional features were included on the same disc as the movie and other features on the HD DVD release. The film's release on home media proved to be very successful, with Paramount ranking in about $16.3 million in DVD sales a month after it's release on the format.

After the discontinuation of the HD DVD format on March 28, 2008, Looking from the Sky became one of the first new titles from Paramount Home Entertainment to be released on Blu-ray after the company initially announced they would exclusively support HD DVD in 2007. The Blu-ray release came out on May 20, 2008, alongside the Blu-ray releases of Face/Off, Next, Blades of Glory and Bee Movie, and was largely based off of the HD DVD release with some minor alterations. Paramount re-issued the film on DVD and Blu-ray on September 12, 2017, for the film's tenth anniversary.