News
Live-Action Blade of the Immortal Film's English-Subtitled Trailer Streamed
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Entertainment news website Screen Daily began streaming an English-subtitled trailer on Thursday for Takashi Miike's live-action film of Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the Immortal manga.
Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, has licensed the film for North America. The company previously released Miike's 13 Assassins film in North America.
Blade of the Immortal premiered in Japan on April 29, and will host its international premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, which is being held from May 17-28. The film ranked at #6 in Japan in its opening weekend, selling 145,000 tickets and earning 189 million yen (about US$1.68 million).
Samura's original Blade of the Immortal manga follows Manji's journey of revenge as the yōjinbō (bodyguard) of Rin, a young woman who swears vengeance against a group of sword fighters who murdered her parents.
The film's lead actors include Takuya Kimura and Hana Sugisaki. Kimura (Howl's Moving Castle, Redline, live-action Space Battleship Yamato) plays the lead character Manji, a rōnin warrior cursed with an immortal body. Sugisaki (When Marnie Was There, live-action Humanoid Monster Bem, Tsukuroi Tatsu Hito) plays both the heroine Rin Asano and Manji's sister Machi. Miike (Ichi the Killer, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Yatterman, As the Gods Will, Crows) directed the film.
Source: Screen Daily (Andreas Wiseman) via ICv2
