November 20, 2009

Japan's leading animation studio Production I.G, Inc. and Singapore's Storm Lion Pte Ltd announced today at the Anime Festival Asia's Animation Asia Conference 2009 in Singapore a collaboration between the two companies in the creation, development and production of a full 3D CG animated feature film entitled Titan Rain.

Titan Rain marks the first ever collaboration between Production I.G and Storm Lion. It utilizes a unique 3D CGI technique and a cutting-edge anime creativity to appeal to the worldwide audience. "I can think of no better partners than Production I.G in such a groundbreaking project that will surpass both technical and creative standards in CG Anime feature production," says Storm Lion's CEO, Edmund Shern. Shern's own sci-fi racing creation, Freedom Formula: Ghost of the Wasteland is currently being developed as a major live-action Hollywood feature film with New Regency and producer Bryan Singer (X-Men, Superman Returns) at the helm, with script by Mike Finch (who recently scripted Robert Rodriguez's Predators).

Shern's sentiments are echoed by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, President & CEO of Production I.G, Inc. Ishikawa says, "We believe that Storm Lion will bring a more international flavor to this collaboration and help give this anime a unique quality which will appeal to new audiences worldwide."

Work on the animated feature has already begun and the project is slated for a major theatrical release all over the world. Directing the animated feature is Atsushi Takeuchi.

Takeuchi has designed mechas and vehicles for most of Production I.G's big titles including the Patlabor movies, Ghost in the Shell, Innocence, IGPX and Venice Golden Lion-nominated The Sky Crawlers, for which he also drawn the storyboards of the air battle scenes. He is also the first Japanese creator to ever direct an episode of the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars where he also designed all of the characters and mechas. "In order to survive in today's complexed society, the human race needs to be strong," Takeuchi explains. "Facing the harsh reality of life is one of the main themes of this project and I'm truly excited to be able to present this in the form of an anime to the world."

The story for Titan Rain is written by Tow Ubukata and Edmund Shern. One of the most charismatic young novelists in Japan, Tow Ubukata, who's written best seller titles such as Le Chevalier d'Eon, Heroic Age and Mardock Scramble; says, "I hope to bring something unique to the table for the new generation of anime fans while drawing influences from past Science Fiction shows."

Titan Rain is Shern's second foray in collaborating with a Japanese creator. Shern previously wrote the international edition of Yoshitaka Amano's Mateki: The Magic Flute for Radical Books.

Titan Rain will also feature characters and concepts will be designed by Takashi Okazaki, the world-famous creator of Afro Samurai.

Bear McCreary, one of Hollywood's most exciting up and coming composers and the man responsible for the soundtracks to Battlestar Galactica and Caprica, will be scoring the soundtrack to the animation. His work on the television series Battlestar Galactica has been described as offering "some of the most innovative music on TV today," by Variety. Bear says, "Science fiction and fantasy anime films were a part of my first inspiration to become a composer, so this opportunity to collaborate with the creative and talented artists at Storm Lion and Production I.G in this genre is a dream come true. The musical score to Titan Rain will be as original, dynamic and powerful as the story and visuals."

Bear also scores the series, Trauma, Eureka and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and will be scoring the upcoming CAPCOM video game Dark Void.

Titan Rain begins pre-production in 2010 and will debut in early 2012 internationally.

About Storm Lion
Storm Lion was founded by Edmund Shern as an integrated entertainment company with a dual core business as a publishing company for generating new intellectual properties that can be published, marketed and developed for graphic novels, video games, animated features, television and feature film, and a media company dedicated to developing film and television projects in Hollywood and Asia. Shern also serves as Chief Operating Officer for Storm Lion's sister company - LA based, Radical Publishing.
In March 2009, Storm Lion announced that Freedom Formula: Ghost of the Wasteland, a Singaporean-created comic book title written by Shern had been acquired by New Regency for development into a major live-action feature film that will be distributed by Fox.

© 2010 PRODUCTION I.G, INC AND STORM LION PTE LTD

September 4, 2009

Production I.G will produce the animation for one chapter of the highly anticipated feature-length international animated project Dante's Inferno.

Dante's Inferno is 6-chapter movie based on Electronic Arts' adaptation of the famed XIV century Italian poem by Dante Alighieri. Some of the most accomplished, creative animation directors will capture the journey of Dante as he moves through the 9 Circles of Hell, fighting the devil and his minions, in search of his beloved, Beatrice.

Production I.G's chapter is directed by Yasuomi Umetsu, the visionary anime maestro behind extreme, action-packed cult titles such as A Kite, Mezzo DSA and Kite Liberator, but also the hauntingly beautiful Presence segment in the classic Robot Carnival omnibus. Dante's Inferno marks the first collaboration ever between Umetsu and Production I.G.

The movie, Dante's Inferno produced by Los Angeles-based Film Roman, a division of Starz Media, is part of a multi-media project that originated from a video game with the same title released by Electronic Arts. The Electronic Arts game and the Film Roman movie, which Anchor Bay Entertainment will distribute worldwide on home entertainment formats, are slated for release on the same day-and-date in 2010

official website:
http://www.dantesinferno.com

© 2010 Electronic Arts, Inc., and Starz Media, LLC

October 17, 2008

The creative team of Ghost in the Shell, Innocence and The Sky Crawlers resurrects the legendary swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi on the big screen!

Overview
Maverick filmmaker Mamoru Oshii is the mastermind behind the original concept for this project, in collaboration with Production I.G - the team that brought you cutting edge anime such as Patlabor: The Movie (1989), Patlabor: The Movie 2 (1993), Ghost in the Shell (1995), Innocence (2004) and The Sky Crawlers (2008).

This new full-length feature film entitled, Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai (Japanese title: Miyamoto Musashi - Soken ni Haseru Yume) is slated in Japanese theaters for summer 2009.

The impressive production staff includes director Mizuho Nishikubo (also known by his alias Toshihiko Nishikubo) who has worked on numerous Oshii films including Ghost in the Shell (1995), Innocence (2004) and The Sky Crawlers (2008). He also directed the TV series Otogi Zoshi and Legend of Heavenly Sphere Shurato. Kazuto Nakazawa, director of the mind-blowing animation segment in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003) and creator of innovative characters as seen in Samurai Champloo (2004), will design the characters for Musashi.

Format: Animated Feature Film
Release Date: Early Summer 2009
Animation: Production I.G
Distributed in Japan by Pony Canyon

MAIN STAFF
Original Concept / Screenplay: Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, The Sky Crawlers)
Director: Mizuho Nishikubo (Innocence, The Sky Crawlers, Legend of Heavenly Sphere Shurato, Otogi Zoshi )
Character Design: Kazuto Nakazawa (Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Samurai Champloo, Asience: Hairy Tale)
Animation Director: Kazuchika Kise (Ghost in the Shell, Blood: The Last Vampire)
Art Director: Shuichi Hirata (Innocence, xxxHOLiC - A Midsummer Night's Dream, Asience: Hairy Tale)
CG Animation: Makoto Endo (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Le Chevalier D'Eon)
Animation Studio: Production I.G (Ghost in the Shell, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, The Sky Crawlers)

© 2009 Production I.G/Musashi Production Committee

October 6, 2008

"Where do all your childhood treasures go when you grow up?"

Production I.G in collaboration with Fuji Television Network announce the production of a new full length computer graphic animation feature film entitled Hottarake no Shima - Haruka to Maho no Kagami (tentative English title: Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror)

Today, American-made 3DCG animation feature films have become a well established and recognized global reality in the entertainment industry. However, budget restrictions and lack of know-how prevented similar productions to become prevalent in Japan so far.

Tokyo-based Production I.G was one of the first animation studios in Japan to recognize the potentiality of the upcoming digital era, and has been dedicating time and resources to the establishment of a fully equipped production environment and a 200 hundred people strong creative and technical team that could support the realization of 3DCG feature-length animated films.

And now, after a 3-year preparation period, the highly anticipated first project presented by Production I.G's 3D team in collaboration with Fuji Television Network is going to be a fresh departure from 3DCG animation as we know it today. Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror (tentative English title) will inherit the unique expressive style that has made Japanese animation hugely popular around the globe, and at the same time it will pursue a completely different texture from Western style 3DCG animation. While making full use of the
state-of-the-art in digital techniques, I.G aims to entertain you with heart-warming visuals and pioneer a new course of Japanese-made 3DCG animation appealing to the international audience.

The movie will be distributed in Japan by Toho Co., Ltd. and the Japanese theatrical release is slated for summer 2009.

Overview
Your favourite teddy bear. That model kit that took so long to complete. The picture book you used to read over and over again. The shining stone you found that day in the park. Where do all your childhood's treasures go when you grow up? In this story, we meet fantastic creatures that gather all these little objects that fall into oblivion as they are forgotten by their owners when they step into adulthood. These creatures sneak into our world from a different dimension, and unseen by humans, they take all the ditched and forgotten "treasures" into their world. Here, they use their booty to build their own city, a fairy tale-like place called... Oblivion Island!

About the Staff
Screenplay: Hirotaka Adachi and Shinsuke Sato
Probably better known by his alias Otsuichi, Hirotaka Ando is a hugely popular novelist whose works have often been transposed into comics and live action movies, for which he personally wrote the screenplays, such as Goth (2002, 3rd Mystery Grand Prize winner), Waiting in the Darkness (2002) and Zoo (2003). Born in Fukuoka in 1978, he made his professional debut when he was only 17. He's reportedly a big fan of Studio Ghibli's movies.

Director: Shinsuke Sato
Born in Hiroshima Prefecture in 1970, Sato is a film director, scriptwriter and video game creator. He graduated from the Musashino Art University, like Satoshi Kon and Ryu Murakami. His directorial debut Ryonai Genshuku (Dorm Austerity) was awarded with the Grand Prix at
the Pia Film Festival 1994. Notably works include, Princess Blade (2001, director and scriptwriter), Yukio Mishima's novel-based Spring Snow (2005, scriptwriter) and manga-based Sand Chronicles (2008, director and scriptwriter), all of them live-action movies. Oblivion Island is his highly anticipated debut in animation.

Naoyoshi Shiotani (director of SICAF 2008 Grand Prize winning Tokyo Marble Chocolate) is joining the production team, too.

© 2009 FUJI TELEVISION NETWORK / Production I.G / DENTSU / PONY CANYON

August 17, 2007

Production I.G has started working on a second season of xxxHOLiC, based on CLAMP's bestseller comic book published in Japan by Kodansha.

I.G already produced the theatrical feature xxxHOLiC - A Midsummer Night's Dream (2005), nominated for the Feature Films category at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2006, and a 24-episode TV series, aired in Japan in 2006 and equally nominated at Annecy 2007 in the TV Series category.

The main staff from the first series has been confirmed: Michiko Yokote supervises the series plot with CLAMP's leader Ageha Okawa; Tsutomu Mizushima directs; and Kazuchika Kise is in charge of the character designs.

© CLAMP·KODANSHA/Ayakashi Workshop

June 20, 2007

Somewhere, in a country similar to ours
There are children who do not became adult
They are very similar to us

Mamoru Oshii, the world-famous Japanese filmmaker, whose works include Ghost in the Shell (1995) and Innocence (2004), will direct a new feature animation film, The Sky Crawlers, to be released in Japan in 2008.

The film is based on a popular five-part novel by a best-seller writer, MORI Hiroshi, who enjoys enthusiastic support from younger generations and has sold over 8 million copies of his works in total. The story unfolds in another 'possible' modern age. The main characters are youngsters called "Kildren", who are destined to live eternally in their adolescence. The Kildren are conscious that every day could be the last, because they fight a "war as entertainment" organized and operated by adults. But as they embrace the reality they are faced with, they live their day-to-day lives to the full.

After reading the novel, Director Oshii praised it as "a work that should be made into a movie for young people now." Clothing, food and housing are in abundance in our modern society, and yet we carry an unfulfilled vacuum in our hearts. "It is time to face this new perception to our existence through the Kildren, who live indefinitely in eternal adolescence, and this theme should be dealt with now," claims Oshii earnestly. The author MORI regards his novel, The Sky Crawlers "as the most difficult among all of my works for film adaptation." However, MORI declared himself "surprised and relieved at the same time to know the director was going to be Mamoru Oshii," and gave his immediate consent.

Mamoru Oshii is best known worldwide for the epoch-making Ghost in the Shell, that topped the Billboard video chart in the US, and its sequel Innocence, the first Japanese animation film to compete for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival. His philosophical speculations and revolutionary visual approach that run throughout his oeuvre had a definitive impact on many film directors, including Luc Besson of The Fifth Element (1997) and the Wachowski brothers of The Matrix (1999).

However, Oshii declares that he is sealing off his method of direction so far. While distancing himself from the original novel "to create a more entertaining work," he has promoted an up-and-coming scriptwriter, Chihiro Ito, who depicted youngsters' sensitive feelings beautifully in two acclaimed movies, Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World (Sekai no Chushin de Ai wo Sakebu, 2004) and Spring Snow (Haru no Yuki, 2005).

The animation production is by the top animation studio in Japan, Production I.G, which has been underpinning the quality of Oshii films. The music score will be written by Oshii's most trusted composer, Kenji Kawai.

The Sky Crawlers is going to be a completely new Oshii film.

The Sky Crawlers is a collaborative project by Nippon Television Network Corporation and Production I.G, Inc., distributed in Japan by Warner Entertainment Japan Inc., to be released in theaters nationwide in 2008.

MAIN STAFF
Based on the novel by MORI Hiroshi (published in Japan by Chuokoron-Shinsha)
Screenplay: Chihiro Ito
Music: Kenji Kawai
Executive Producers: Seiji Okuda, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa
Producer: Tomohiko Ishii
Director: Mamoru Oshii
Sequence Director: Toshihiko Nishikubo
Character Designer/Key Animation Director: Tetsuya Nishio
Mechanical Designer: Atsushi Takeuchi
Art Director: Kazuo Nagai
Art Settings: Takashi Watabe
Color Designer: Kumiko Yusa
Visual Effects: Hisashi Ezura
CGI Supervisor: Hiroyuki Hayashi
Line Producer: Toru Kawaguchi
Animation Production: Production I.G
Distribution in Japan: Warner Entertainment Japan

Official website (Japanese only)
http://sky.crawlers.jp/

© MH/NI,BWDVYHDYCH

March 23, 2007

Celebrating the 20th anniversary from its foundation, Production I.G announces at TAF 2007 a new project, Ghost Hound (original title: Shinreigari / Ghost Hound), written by Production I.G and Ghost in the Shell-famed Shirow Masamune. The main staff includes director Ryutaro Nakamura (Serial Experiments Lain, Kino's Travels), scriptwriter Chiaki J. Konaka (Serial Experiments Lain, The Big O) and character designer Mariko Oka (Jigoku Shojo, Jing: King of Bandits). The story will be co-developed by Crossroad. Ghost Hound will premiere in Japan fall 2007 on WOWOW.
The comic version of Ghost Hound, drawn by Kanata Asahi, will start serializing in Japan on Monthly Comic Blade (published by Mag Garden) from March 30, 2007.

© 2007 Production I.G · Shirow Masamune / GHOST HOUND Production Committee

March 23, 2007

Production I.G has created the animation for Kao Corporation's new image video dedicated to the Asience shampoo line. The 1-minute long fully animated film, entitled Asience: Hairy Tale, is directed by Kazuto Nakazawa, who gained international fame by directing the animation part in Quentin Tarantino's world hit Kill Bill: Vol. 1. Nakazawa also designed the characters and directed the animation. Art direction has been entrusted to Shuichi Hirata, the texture wizard behind the stunning artwork of Cannes-nominated Innocence and Annecy-selected xxxHOLiC - A Midsummer Night's Dream. The genuine Japanese style music has been composed by Yoshihiro Ike, who already collaborated with I.G in Blood: The Last Vampire and Reideen.

The graphic style of Asience: Hairy Tale is visually inspired by the Japanese woodblock prints, and personalized by Nakazawa's nervous and expressive brush touch used for the characters outlines. The story concept, focusing on woman's hair as metaphor of feminine life, is portrayed as a tragic love story in a samurai drama fashion.

The image video is receiving a sneak preview at Production I.G booth (B-02) at Tokyo Anime Fair 2007, held in Tokyo March 22 to 25, 2007.

© 1994-2007 KAO CORPORATION. All Rights Reserved.

March 9, 2007

Production I.G and Victor Entertainment have teamed up to produce a fully animated music clip for the song Universe, performed by popular Japanese singer Maaya Sakamoto and included in the artist's forthcoming album, 30minutes night flight, to be released in Japan on March 21, 2007. The video clip will be made available on DVD format in the limited double-disc edition of the album.

The beautiful and bittersweet animation of Universe, that unfolds like a watercolor-painted picture book, is the creative result of a promising duo called Gekidan INU Curry, who designed the characters and directed the film produced at Production I.G's Studio 4 under the supervision of line producer Hidekazu Terakawa (Jin-Roh, IGPX).

About Maaya Sakamoto
Born on March 31, 1980, Maaya Sakamoto started her professional career as a singer at 15, when her talent was discovered by world-famous composer and music producer Yoko Kanno. At that time, she performed the opening song Yakusoku wa Iranai (I Don't Need Promises) for the animated TV series The Vision of Escaflowne (1996) while giving her voice to the main character in the same series, Hitomi Kanzaki. Her career as voice actor and singer continued in both animation and live action productions, her credits including Nathalie Portman / Queen Amidala in the Star Wars saga, Jessica Alba / Max in Dark Angel, and Reika Mishima in RahXephone. She has also been playing the role of Eponine for 5 years in the Japanese version of the musical Les Miserables. So far she released 9 albums (the second one, Dive, was voted Best Japanese Pop Album by Music Magazine) and 13 singles.

Her 10th and latest album, 30minutes night flight is a concept work that the artist herself describes as "a 30-minute night flight dedicated to all the people who experienced at least one sleepless night."

Maaya Sakamoto official website (Japanese only):
http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/maaya/

© Gekidan INU Curry · Production I.G / Victor Entertainment

January 26, 2007

Production I.G, Inc. has finalized with Kodansha Ltd. an agent agreement to represent the live-action rights for the property Ghost in the Shell, of which Kodansha Ltd. owns the exploitation rights to the original work.

The comic book Ghost in the Shell, originally created by Shirow Masamune in 1989, was transposed into an animated feature film in 1995, instantly earning worldwide success and topping N. 1 of Billboard Magazine video sales chart in 1996, marking an unprecedented achievement for a Japanese animated production. The movie Ghost in the Shell, directed by Mamoru Oshii, further proved to have great influence on Hollywood creators, starting from the Wachowski brothers' The Matrix.

In 2004, Mamoru Oshii directed Innocence, the ideal sequel to the 1995 Ghost in the Shell movie, that thanks to its introspective plot and visionary style received the honor to be the first Japanese animated feature film to be nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Festival de Cannes.

Starting from 2002, the Ghost in the Shell franchise was expanded into a TV series, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, directed by Kenji Kamiyama. The show was certainly action-packed with high quality animation, but also featured political and social issues, and soon gained a huge following. Immediately after the first 26-episode series, a second season, entitled Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd Gig, was aired in Japan and then in several countries in the world, for a total of 52 half-hour episodes that turned into a million seller in the home video market. In 2006, a new chapter was added to the Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. project, with a theatrical-quality direct-to-video feature film entitled Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society, again directed by Kenji Kamiyama.

Pursuant to the agreement with Kodansha Ltd., Production I.G. Inc. will represent the author of the original work and the publisher in negotiations with major film companies for the production and distribution of the live-action Ghost in the Shell.

© 1995 Shirow Masamune/KODANSHA · BANDAI VISUAL · MANGA ENTERTAINMENT
© Shirow Masamune/KODANSHA · IG, ITNDDTD
© 2002-2006 Shirow Masamune - Production I.G/KODANSHA