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Few people have been around the Digimon franchise as long as Hiromi Seki. A producer at Toei Animation, she’s been involved with Digimon since 1999’s Digimon Adventure and has seen it evolve through many series and generations of both fans and characters. I was able to interview her at the 2024 New York Comic-Con where we talked about the early days of the digital monsters, the reason why the characters continue to resonate with fans, and even got a glimpse into the difference between producing a Digimon series and a Digimon film. Thank you so much for participating in this interview. Could you begin by introducing yourself and telling us a little bit about your relationship with the Digimon series. Hiromi Seki : I’ve been the producer at Toei Animation at the planning and sales department for about 40 years now. And when it comes to the Digimon series, I...

The upcoming isekai fantasy TV anime Teogonia , based on the light novel series written by Tsukasa Tanimai and illustrated by Kouichiro Kawano, revealed in its newest trailer tonight that the series will premiere in 2025. The first lead cast members were also unveiled alongside their anime character designs. Teogonia 's First Main Trailer Kai  voiced by Mutsumi Tamura (Koshiro Izumi in Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna ) Jose  voiced by Kana Hanazawa (Mitsuri Kanroji in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba ) Related: Teogonia TV Anime Reveals STU48 Ending Theme in Special Trailer Kunihiro Mori directs  Teogonia  at Asahi Production with series composition written by Tomoyasu Okubo, character designs drawn by Koichiro Kawano and music composed by Kenji Fujisawa. Wowmax produces the series.  The story of  Teogonia  is described as such: It's a time of warfare where relentless battles continue between human and demi-human tribes like the Ash Monkeys (Macaque) and pig people (Ogres) invading human lands.

And while the franchise currently doesn’t have an ongoing anime series, the Digimon franchise is very much active, with numerous non-anime projects being released. But, despite all of that, the highly-anticipated home release of last year’s hit film, Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning, which is set within the original universe and follows the 02 DigiDestined in a new adventure, has been announced for US fans – it is June 11, 2024!

It has been known for a while that the Blu-ray edition of the Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning movie will come out on May 29, 2024 in Japan, and while some fans had been worried about a potentially long(er) wait for the US release, we can confirm that the movie will be released not long after the Japanese edition. Pre-orders are already available on Amazon for $26.98, for which you will get the special Blu-ray+DVD edition.

While the movie is set after the original anime,...

Digimon is one of the most recognizable brands in the world of anime, and this year, the franchise celebrated its 25th anniversary during the Digimon Con 2024, which was held in Japan on March 9 and 10, 2024. To celebrate the success of the event, as well as 25 years of the franchise, the producers have released an official Pv video for the fans, which chronicles the 25 years of the Digimon franchise:

Aside from showing us the clips from all the seasons released so far, the video also includes the first four Japanese Op songs, all performed by the late Koji Wada, who died of cancer in 2016, but will forever be remembered by Digimon fans all around the world as his voice and his songs helped make the franchise what it is. The songs featured are “Butter-Fly” (Digimon Adventure), “Target ~ Red Shock” (Digimon Adventure 02), “The Biggest Dreamer” (Digimon Tamers), and “Fire!!” (Digimon Frontier). Aside from this,...

The official Twitter account of PVR Inox Pictures announced on Dec 26, 2023, that they will be releasing Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning anime film in India on Jan 19, 2024.

A promo video was also revealed to commemorate the announcement.

Dive into Digi-Destined drama!

Despite nearly six months of cinema closures due to Covid-19, China actually built nearly 6,000 more new screens in 2020, according to a new report from the country’s film authorities.

The data contradicts the disastrous predictions made over the summer about the extent to which the pandemic would devastate the Chinese exhibition sector.

China now boasts 75,581 screens nationwide at some 12,700 complexes, having built 5,794 more screens last year, said the National Office for Special Film Funds, a committee under the direct management of the powerful Central Propaganda Department made up of cadres from that body and the Ministry of Finance. Growth did slow, however: to compare, China built around 9,700 new screens in both 2019 and 2018. It began 2020 with around 69,800 screens at some 12,400 complexes.

Things were looking much bleaker in June, by which time Chinese movie theaters had been closed for five months. Conducted by local film industry associations, a mid-2020 survey of nearly...

Local war epic Sacrifice held on to the top spot and has reached a cume of $134.2m since opening on October 23.

Local war epic Sacrifice held on to the top spot at the China box office over the weekend (November 6-8), grossing $14.3m, according to figures from Artisan Gateway, while Li Xiaofeng’s Back To The Wharf came in second with $7.1m in its opening three days.

Sacrifice, was produced to celebrate the 70th anniversary of China’s entry into the Korean War, has grossed a cumulative total of $134.2m since opening on October 23.

Executive produced by leading actor-producer Huang Bo,...

China had a relatively quiet box office weekend, in which holdover Korean War-set title “Sacrifice” led for the third week in a row thanks to $14.4 million in sales, according to data from industry tracker Maoyan.

This week’s most notable new release was the blood-stained, tear-soaked, seaside-set local crime thriller “Back to the Wharf,” which came in second with a $7.09 million debut. It stars Zhang Yu and was directed by Li Xiaofeng. His first feature, the 2014 period drama “Nezha,” premiered in the New Currents section at the Busan International Film Festival that year but made just $82,130 in Chinese theaters.

Patriotic omnibus film “My People, My Homeland,” now well over a month in theaters, came in third with $4.86 million. It has now grossed a cumulative $416 million (RMB2.75 billion), making it one of the world’s biggest films of the year and the 21st highest grossing film of all time in China.

Japanese animation Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna came in second over the weekend, grossing $9.6m.

Locally-produced war film Sacrifice topped China’s box office last weekend (October 30-November 1), according to figures from Artisan Gateway, grossing a further $28.6m for a cumulative total of $105.8m.

Co-directed by Frant Gwo, Guan Hu and Lu Yang, the film was produced to celebrate the 70th anniversary of China’s entry into the Korean War. The three-day weekend gross included $1.6m from 670 IMAX screens.

Japanese animation Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna came in second over the weekend, grossing $9.6m in its opening three days. Patriotic omnibus My People,...

New Foreign

“Parasite” is an often-brutal examination of wealth inequality, and yet its Best Picture win still counts as one of the few universally uplifting moments that 2020 had to offer. This Blu-ray release from The Criterion Collection arrives fully-loaded with extras, including director Bong Joon Ho’s black-and-white rendering of the film — anything but an afterthought, it’s a version that he and cinematographer Kyung-pyo Hong had in mind all along — commentaries, interviews, and a new essay from onetime TheWrap film critic Inkoo Kang.

Also available: Cameroonian college students get pulled into the dark web to pull a “Scam République” (IndiePix); anime saga “Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna” (Shout/Toei) celebrates the franchise’s 20th anniversary; “Three Comrades” (IndiePix) go out to unwind on a Friday night and wind up on an unexpected spree.

Chilean stop-motion feature “The Wolf House” (KimStim) uses unsettling visuals to spin a fable about the...

Patriotic film was produced to celebrate the 70th anniversary of China’s entry into the Korean War.

Local war epic Sacrifice topped the box office on its opening weekend (October 23-25) in China, according to figures from theatrical consultancy Artisan Gateway, grossing $53m in three days.

Produced to celebrate the 70th anniversary of China’s entry into the Korean War (1950-53), the film focuses on the attempts of Chinese soldiers attempting to repair a bridge while under constant bombardment from US artillery and planes.

The film is co-directed by three of China’s biggest commercial filmmakers – Frant Gwo (The Wandering Earth...

Going into Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna I was apprehensive. The previous installment in the Digimon Adventure series, the six tri. movies, crashed and burned so badly it killed any enthusiasm I had for that original Adventure continuity. Starting off with so much potential they quickly devolved into awkward fan service (of all kinds), bad pacing, and character beats that just made no sense. There was no cohesion, little fun, and next to nothing of what made Digimon so special for a generation of fans.

This movie is an apology for tri. It does everything right that tri. failed at. Last Evolution Kizuna quickly rights the ship, discarding the lame cliffhanger from the end of the final tri. film and mostly acts as though those films never happened. Instead we get a redo of the emotional arc of what tri. had originally been setting up, the characters trying to make...

Tuesday Update after 9:22Am Sunday report, writethru with overall market details: Sony’s Oscar winner, Little Women, originally began offshore rollout back in late December 2019, but continued to show off its grit at the international box office this weekend. The Greta Gerwig-directed update on the classic opened in Japan at No. 1 with $495K. In total, on 440 screens in 13 offshore markets, the film’s weekend was worth $760K for a $99.5M overseas cume through Sunday.

The century mark should be in the offing with strong play continuing in Denmark, and a China release still a possibility. Gerwig’s modern take on the 19th century novel was originally scheduled to hit Middle Kingdom movie theaters on February 14, but was caught in the coronavirus crisis which shuttered all of the market’s cinemas in late January.

In Japan, this is one of the first new titles to release as Covid-19 and...

Exclusive: Looking at the international box office over the past few weekends, if there’s one trend that’s beginning to emerge from the smattering of cinemas back in operation, it’s that audiences are responding to new product — and fresh re-releases. Exhibitors are getting the job done with what’s available to them, but it’s still slim pickings out there. A clear success story this past session, however, was Korea where a subsidy offered by local body Kofic, which sharply discounted tickets, resulted in a huge boost in receipts, from $1.2M last frame to $3.17M this session across the Top 10 titles. Play was led by new local thriller Intruder, which accounted for the bulk of takings at $2.2M (see market snapshots below).

Elsewhere in Asia, some were up, some were down. Japan saw a nice hike thanks to the return of a trio of Avengers movies while Hong Kong and Taiwan dipped.

Exclusive: Some international box office markets that are up and running — even if not at full steam — saw increases this weekend while others faced drops given good weather in some spots and an overall lack of new product. However, Disney floated Kristen Stewart-starrer Underwater into Korea for the first time with a No. 1 start at $402K which is one of the better overseas openings for the underperformer that began rolling out globally in January. Disney/Pixar’s Onward also continued to lead Taiwan in its second week.

Local titles in Germany and Czech Republic were still atop the charts and the former continues to see strong drive-in business. Overall, however, there’s evidence that new releases — scant though they may be — are the ones drawing the most attention from moviegoers. (See market snapshots below.)

There was good news this week out of France where it was announced that cinemas...

Exclusive: It’s all very quiet on the international box office front, but this past weekend saw some decent increases in various markets. Cinemas are still just sputtering back to operations around the world, notably in parts of Europe and Asia.

Germany remains the key major driving admissions — and largely from drive-ins, though Vue International’s CinemaxX circuit re-opened three multiplexes this weekend.

May is a test-the-waters month while June will see further majors welcome moviegoers amid stringent safety measures. They include Italy and Spain. Also set to start the turnstiles again in June are Poland and the Netherlands.

The UK is still looking at July 4 to re-open, however the majority of independent cinemas recently polled are thinking September is more likely for them. The Independent Cinema Office said that 59% of respondents believe they can enforce social distancing, 41% did not think they could. While some think they may open in July or August,...

Earlier this year Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna was going to be released for a one night screening in the United States on March 25th. The film had already come out in Japanese theaters and American fans were excited to experience what is set to be the final adventure in the original Digimon continuity.

That sadly didn’t happen thanks to the coronavirus pandemic but now American fans will finally get a chance to see the film when it’s released to home media (Blu-ray/DVD) on July 7, 2020 thanks to Shout! Factory and Toei Animation. The film will not only include the original film in Japanese with English subtitles but also an English dub featuring original Digimon dub voice actor Joshua Seth reprising his role as Tai. The press release for the film mentions he will appear alongside “an exciting team of voice talent” but there’s no confirmation on...

In today’s film news roundup, box office reporting is going away temporarily, Hollywood Teamsters have job opportunities, comedy “The Incoherents” finds a home and Fathom Events postpones more than a dozen releases.

Box Office Reporting

The coronavirus pandemic and the closure of most movie theaters has led to a temporary suspension of North American box office reporting by Comscore, the industry’s box office tracker.

The decision came after Disney announced it would stop global box office reporting, given the current large number of theater shutdowns around the globe.

“Due to this unprecedented situation, Comscore will be temporarily suspending our usual Sunday North American Top 10 Estimates, Global chart and commentary,” Comscore said in a statement. “We will update the status of studio reporting on Monday.”

Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, told Variety that there will be some revenues this weekend, thanks partly to drive-in movie theaters that have remained open.

Alec Bojalad Shamus Kelley Feb 12, 2020

For the Digimon Adventure's 20th anniversary, Toei Animation has announced a new film project with the original characters.

The DigiDestined are needed once more in the new film, Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna.

We've got an all new trailer for the Digimon movie that gives us a better look at the plot, including the idea that the characters may have to give up their Digimon as they grow up!

Video of Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna (2020) - New Trailer - Toei Animation

There's also the second trailer that doesn't reveal much but gives us a lot of shots of what appears to be the Digimon fighting in the internet again.

Video of Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna - 2nd Trailer [English Sub]

We've also got the first trailer for the new Digimon movie.

Video of Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna (2020) - Official Teaser Trailer

Tai and Agumon's last adventure?...