At least five new movies based on anime or manga are being exhibited to potential buyers at Cannes, the French town that is hosting the prestigious Cannes Film Festival and the related Marché du Film from May 14 to 25. Marché du Film is the world's biggest market for films.
Even before this week, Nippon Television Network has been selling regional screening rights to its upcoming three-movie adaptation of Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys manga. The first film in the trilogy is set to premiere on August 30; the second, at the end of the year; and the third, in the summer of 2009. The budget for all three is estimated at US$60 million. Distributors in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia have already bought the theatrical rights to the trilogy. Each of the three films will open on or about the same date in all of these countries.
The Nikkatsu film studio plans to unveil the US$20-million live-action adaptation of the 1977-1979 anime Yatterman. Takashi Miike is directing the film, and Saki Fukuda and Sho Sakurai star in it. Yatterman's theatrical opening is currently scheduled for the spring of 2009 in Japan.
Another company that is using Cannes to promote a manga-based film is Fortissimo Films. Its slate of offerings includes Dance! Subaru, a film based on Masahito Soda's 11-volume ballet manga Subaru. Meisa Kuroki, a popular Japanese film actress who also recently voiced the main character in Vexille, plays the lead.
