Blade of the Immortal: Magnet Releasing acquires the rights Takeshi Miike’s 100th film
Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, announced today that they have acquired North American rights to Blade of the Immortal, the highly-anticipated and ultra-violent new title from legendary and berserkly prolific Japanese director Takashi Miike, which is his — gasp — 100th film!
Takuya Kimura, one of Japan’s biggest stars (Howl’s Moving Castle), plays the lead alongside newcomer Hana Sugisaki. Sôta Fukushi and Ebizô Ichikawa (13 Assassins) round out the cast with veterans Min Tanaka and Tsutomu Yamazaki. Blade of the Immortal marks the second collaboration between Miike and Magnet, following 2011’s wildly successful samurai masterpiece 13 Assassins.
The film will have its international premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in Official Selection next week, marking the third title Magnolia/Magnet has in this year’s festival. Based on Hiroaki Samura’s long-running manga of the same name, Blade of the Immortal follows an immortal warrior who is enlisted by a young girl to avenge her parents’ slaughter at the hand of a group of master swordsmen. Magnet plans to release the film later this year.
“We’ve been huge fans of Miike for a long time and couldn’t be more excited to work with him again on Blade of the Immortal,” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles. “The action and fight choreography in this film are both visceral and balletic. They’re on another level.”
“I’m pleased to present my latest film,” said Miike. “It is a Samurai Action about an immortal warrior. Love and tears splatter with arms, legs and heads that are chopped and splattered. I hope the audience will be prepared for this and enjoy the film.”
Directed by Takashi Miike, Blade of the Immortal was written by Tetsuya Oishi and produced by Jeremy Thomas, Misako Saka, and Shigeji Maeda, with Warner Bros. Japan.
The deal was negotiated by Magnolia co-EVP Dori Begley and Magnolia SVP of Acquisitions John Von Thaden, with Gabrielle Stewart and Nicole Mackey at HanWay Films on behalf of the filmmakers.
