20th Century Boys Film Trilogy In North America

The live-action film trilogy 20th Century Boys, "one of the biggest productions ever attempted in the Japanese movie industry" with an estimated budget of 6 billion yen (about $65 million), is about to become one of the biggest productions ever attempted in Viz Pictures' licensing portofolio. The North American publisher has announced its acquisition of theatrical and DVD distribution rights for all three movies based on Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys suspense manga, which it will begin screening starting next month.



The first film in the series will premiere on August 15 at the "New People" theater in San Francisco (which is still under construction), and will continue to run there for a week. Immediately afterwards, the second movie will also receive a week-long screening. And on August 28, Viz will achieve the world premiere of the final film in the 20th Century Boys trilogy - on the same day as its upcoming Japanese release. Not bad.

The DVD releases of the first two films are vaguely planned for 2009, with the third one only expected in 2010. You can watch the Japanese trailers for all three movies here on Anime-kun. And if they don't make much sense, below you'll find a more eloquent story outline, copy-pasted from Viz Pictures' press release.

"The 20th Century Boys saga (...) begins in 1969 when a young boy named Kenji and his friends write "The Book of Prophecy". In their book, they write about a future where they fight against an evil organization trying to take over the world and bring about Doomsday.

Years later in 1997, a mysterious cult being lead by a man only known as "Friend" has emerged and gained strong influence over society. A series of catastrophic events begin to occur, mirroring the prophecies made up by the young Kenji. The greatest fear is that the climax of The Book of Prophecy will become a reality: on December 31st, 2000, a terrifying giant virus-spreading robot will attack the entire city of Tokyo, leading to the end of mankind. The only people who know about The Book are Kenji and his childhood friends. Who is Friend? Will Kenji and his friends are able [sic] to save mankind and live to see the 21st Century?"

As my comrade would surely say right about now - 21st Century Lolis or GTFO.