According to Anime News Network, the latest film from Studio Ghibli, From Up on Poppy Hill, has blown away the competition to become the number one box office film in Japan for 2011. It did it so completely that it exceeded the box office draw of its next two competitors combined by $400,000 US, and is currently pushing the $54 million range. This is another work directed by Goro Miyazaki, son of renowned filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki who wrote and planned the movie. No word yet on when Disney will be releasing the film either in theaters or on DVD for the US market, but it is at least making the rounds of the usual film festivals in North America.
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There really aren’t any genre films this week, so this might be a good time to catch up on anything you missed. We have two for next week however; the long-awaited Bunraku, and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.
Not much in the way of movies this week; the only things I could find are Aliens vs. Avatars and Area 51, neither one of which I find worth watching.
In TV, we have Fringe: Seasons 1-3 in a single box set. What I find strange about this release is the pricing; at Amazon as an example the season 1 through 3 box set runs $162.00; but you can pick up season 1 for $19, season 2 for $25, and season 3 for $37, totaling up to $81, or half of what the first 3 seasons box set runs. Also out this week is Castle: The Complete Third Season, which I have to mention because it stars The Captain.
In Anime, the main release is the feature movie The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. This only got a very limited theatrical release in the US, so for most fans this will be their first opportunity to see it. It came out in Japan between the first and second season of the Aliens/Espers/Robots/Time Travelers show, but I am not sure where in the story arc it properly resides. Also out this week, Katanagatari Premium part 2 continues the katana collection adventures with foes forced to cooperate if they have any hope of success. Looking at the picture on the series home page you could be forgiven for coming to the conclusion the series was a romantic fantasy rather than assembling a weapons supremacy. On the other hand, Amagami SS IS about romance across alternate universes, where we get to see what happens to different versions of the same boy in different timelines. One of the nice touches in this series is that each episodes closing theme song is sung by the female protagonist for that episode. This series is based on an eroge, or Japanese romance game.
Real Steel hits the big screen in October, and they have turned loose another few trailers to get us ready for it. If you have ever built your own combat bot (all of mine have been in the Nano class, I can’t afford the heavy weight hardware it takes to make it to Robot Wars), you will appreciate this movie. It is also yet another Sci-Fi movie starring Hugh Jackman that has no mutants in it (remember The Fountain, or Van Helsing , or Kate & Leopold?).
A classic sci-fi movie turned into a classic porn movie? However much fun a Flesh Gordon-esq Tron might be, it didn’t happen. But this comedy bit from Break Dot Com is a hoot.
According to Digital Spy, there will be a live action version of the Anime classic Kite coming to the big screen. The director will be David R Ellis, probably best known for Snakes on a Plane, with no word yet on the expected release date or rating. The original anime was Hentai and would have been rated X in the US, but it was so popular it went through two different edits, one to bring it down to R, and another that brought it to PG13 or so, and released in theaters worldwide.