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.
20th Century Boys 3: Redemption makes its US debut in a week or two at Viz Theater. They have enough back-story at the beginning so it works as a stand-alone, but the first two films are always fun to re-watch. In just a week or so, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya will see the big screen in the US, also at Viz Theater; here are the trailers…
Gantz was the least subtle anime I have ever watched, at least in its unedited form. The version that aired on late night TV (midnight Tokyo time) in Japan was so heavily edited for sex and violence that some episodes made no sense at all, with very few complete sentences. But now a group in Japan is gearing up to make two live action films based on the Manga that drove the anime. 26 companies around the world are already negotiating to get distribution rights for the two films, and a company each in the US and UK are inquiring about remake rights. I will keep my fingers crossed that they don’t wimp out, but stay true to the original story.