Viz Pictures picks up rights for all three "20th Century Boys" trilogy

by Chris MaGee

Here's news of yet another upcoming North American DVD release that will undoubtedly be popular with Japanese film fans. The fine folks at Viz Pictures have picked up the North American theatrical and distribution rights for Yukihiko Tsutsumi's epic trilogy "20th Century Boys". The first two films, based on Naoki Urasawa's manga about a group of childhood friends battling a mysterious cult bent on world domination, will be released on DVD later this year and the final installment, which will hit Japanese theatres on August 29th, will be released early next year.

Here's the big news, though.... that is if you're living in the San Francisco Bay Area. In May we told you about how Viz Pictures was building a 20,000 square foot, $15 million movie theatre and cultural facility dubbed New People dedicated entirely to screening Japanese cinema. Well, this brand new facility will open with a screening of all three "20th Century Boys" films on August 15th. That's right, San Franciscans will be the very first to see the final installemnt in this, the most expensive Japanese film production in history.

Thanks to Anime News Network for this very exciting news.