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Tsuburaya Productions, Netflix Partner for Ultraman CG Animated Film

Tsuburaya Productions announced on Thursday that it is partnering with Netflix to produce an Ultraman CG animated feature film. Shannon Tindle (animator for Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings) is making his feature directorial debut with this film, with John Aoshima as co-director. Tsuburaya Productions and Industrial Light and Magic are credited as the production companies. Tindle is also co-writing the film with Marc Haimes.

Tom Knott is credited as producer, and Lisa Poole as co-producer. The staff is aiming to cast "a mix of Japanese and western stars, coupled with a large number of below-the-line talent from Japan."

Tsuburaya describes the film:

Baseball superstar Ken Sato returns to his home country of Japan to pick up the mantle of Earth-defending superhero Ultraman, but quickly finds more than he bargained for when he's forced to raise the offspring of his greatest foe, a newborn Kaiju. Struggling to balance the roles of teammate and new father, Ken must confront his own ego, his estranged father, and the conniving Kaiju Defense Force to rise up and discover what it truly means to be Ultraman.

Netflix previously debuted an Ultraman CG anime based on Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi's Ultraman manga in April 2019. Kenji Kamiyama and Shinji Aramaki directed the anime at Production I.G The anime will get a second season.

Hideaki Anno's Studio Khara is also developing a new Shin Ultraman (New Ultraman) film, previously planned for an early summer release, but delayed due to the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Ultraman Trigger, the newest live-action series in the long-running tokusatsu franchise, will premiere on TV Tokyo on July 10.

Sources: Tsuburaya Productions, Variety (Adam B. Vary)