Manga Movie News: Daily Yomiuri Previews 20th Century Boys

The live action movie version of Naoki Urasawa's manga thriller 20th Century Boys opens in Japanese theaters today. To my great disappointment, I'm flying out of Tokyo this afternoon, so I won't be able to see it, but the Daily Yomiuri posted an interesting feature article talking about the film, the casting and a tidbit that I didn't know before: this film, which is called one of the most expensive ever made in Japanese cinema, is just the first film of a planned trilogy. Apparently, this installment only covers volumes 1 through 5 of the 24-volume series.

The article mentions that the manga editions of 20th Century Boys has sold over 20 million copies in Japan, and that the three films in the trilogy were produced with a 6 billion yen budget. The second film in the trilogy is set to debut in January 2009. There's some anxiety that the critics will not be kind to the way that the filmmakers opted to condense the complex story, but so far, this early review gives it a thumbs up (contains some spoilers).

Given how long it took the Nana and Death Note movies to come out here, it may take some time for U.S. audiences to get to check this out, but in the meantime, check out the trailer, and get ready for the English edition of the manga to debut in the states in January 2009 from VIZ Media.

Image credit: © 1999, 2006 Naoki Urasawa, Studio Natsu / Shogakukan © 2008 20th Century Boys Film Partners