Interest

U.K. Cinema Screenings of Battle Royale Today

The Showcase cinema chain is listing screenings of the 2000 Battle Royale live-action film on Monday August 2, at the venues listed below. The poster accompanying the listings includes the words "New 4K restoration." The running time is given at 114 minutes, which is consistent with the original theatrical cut. (A longer version, sometimes referred to as the "Director's Cut," is available on Blu-ray and the arrow-player.com platform in Britain.)

Based on Koushun Takami's 1999 novel, the film's story follows a class of delinquent high school students who are forced to play a game on a deserted island. There, they must hunt each other down, and the last classmate left alive wins. The film was directed by Kinji Fukasaku, with a cast including Tatsuya Fujiwara (Light in the live-action Death Note films), Chiaki Kuriyama (the live-action Kill Bill: Volume 1, The Sky Crawlers) and Takeshi Kitano. Viz Media published Takami's original novel in North America, and Tokyopop released Masayuki Taguchi's manga adaptation.

Battle Royale first opened in Japan in 2000 but did not have a full American theatrical release at the time, in part due to the aftermath of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado. The film did get DVD releases in Great Britain, Hong Kong, and other regions at the time.

The venues listed as screening the film are as follows. All the screenings are at 7.40 p.m., except for the Derby screening at 6.15 p.m. and the Southampton screening at 7.10 p.m. All the venues are also listed as screening the film on September 26 and 27.

Showcase Cinema De Lux Bluewater; Showcase Cinema De Lux Bristol; Showcase Bristol Avonmeads; Showcase Cardiff Nantgrw; Showcase Cinema De Lux Coventry; Showcase Cinema De Lux Derby (6.15 p.m.); Showcase Dudley; Showcase Cinema De Lux Glasgow; Showcase Cinema De Lux Leeds; Showcase Cinema De Lux Leicester; Showcase Cinema De Lux Liverpool; Showcase Cinema De Lux Nottingham; Showcase Cinema De Lux Paisley; Showcase Cinema De Lux Peterborough; Showcase Cinema De Lux Reading; Showcase Cinema De Lux Southampton (7.10 p.m.); Showcase Cinema De Lux Teesside.

Grateful thanks to Jordan Scott for sending the information.