Good news to US fans of Japan’s beloved “gentleman thief”, as American distributor GKIDS has announced that they will be screening LUPIN III THE FIRST in US cinemas! The screenings, which will be done in cooperation with TMS Entertainment and Fathom Events, will be held on October 18 & 21—the former to feature English dub, while the latter to feature Japanese dub with English subtitles. A separate special screening will also be held in select theaters on October 23.
GKIDS also released English-subtitled and dubbed trailers for the upcoming US release. Check out the English dub here, and the English-subtitled trailer here.
LUPIN III THE FIRST is the first 3DCG film in the franchise. The film’s story revolves around Lupin teaming up with a mysterious woman named Leticia in order to steal the Bresson Diary, a treasure that even the first Arsene Lupin failed to steal.
Takashi Yamazaki, who directed 3DCG films Stand By Me Doraemon and Dragon Quest: Your Story among others, directed as well as wrote the script for LUPIN III THE FIRST.
Lupin III THE FIRST is the third in a series of films that started with 2014’s Lupin the Third: Jigen’s Gravestone and 2017’s Lupin the IIIrd Chikemuri no Ishikawa Goemon. Both films were directed by Takeshi Koike with scripts written by Yuya Takahashi. LUPIN III THE FIRST was released in Japanese theaters last December 2019.
Before the film’s Japanese release, an October 2018 message from series creator Monkey Punch was posted on the franchise’s official website. In the message, Monkey Punch (Kazuhiko Kato in real life) reveals how excited he is for the new film and is eager to see how this fresh take on his character would turn out. He passed away last April 2019.
Lupin III debuted as a manga series in 1967 and was eventually adapted into a television anime series in 1971. Since then, Lupin III has gone on to become a highly-successful franchise, spawning six animated TV series, eight films, several video games, and other iterations for TV and other media.
Source: Anime News Network