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We first heard about plans for a live-action Pacific Rim series last year, and we now have confirmation that the project is moving forward at Amazon Prime Video.

Variety reports that the show is being developed as part of a deal between lead studio Legendary Television and Amazon MGM Studios. Eric Heisserer will serve as writer and executive producer under his Chronology banner.

Plot details are still being kept under wraps, but we do know that the untitled series will serve as a prequel to the movies. Apparently, "there is still the potential for new films in the franchise as well."

The Pacific Rim franchise launched back in 2013 with Guillermo del Toro's original movie, which was followed in 2018 by Steve S. DeKnight's Pacific Rim: Uprising. Since then, we've had the Pacific Rim: The Black animated series, as well as various comic books, novels, video games and other tie-in merchandise.

Legendary’s Pacific Rim series has landed at Amazon MGM Studios. The two studios will adapt the IP together (with Legendary in first position) for Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service.

The Pacific Rim TV project, currently in development, is the first from Legendary’s first-look television deal with Eric Heisserer and his Chronology banner. Heisserer will write and executive produce the series.

The Pacific Rim universe first launched in 2013 with the Guillermo del Toro-directed feature film of the same name. The title has since expanded into animated television (Pacific Rim: The Black), comic books, novels, gaming and toys. In 2018, Steve S. DeKnight wrote and directed a second feature film in the franchise: Pacific Rim: Uprising.

The original Pacific Rim starred Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day and Burn Gorman. Together, they fought an ongoing war between humankind and monstrous sea creatures. Victory was not enough, we guess,...

The seemingly stalled Pacific Rim TV series is stomping onto Amazon via Prime Video after syncing a deal with Legendary and Amazon MGM Studios. The project hails from Bird Box and Shadow and Bone executive producer Ed Heisserer, who serves as the project’s writer and EP via his Chronology studio. Amazon’s Pacific Rim TV series is a prequel to Guillermo del Toro’s 2013 giant robot battle romp starring Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, and Rinko Kikuchi.

According to sources, the plot remains a mystery, though new films in the franchise could emerge in addition to the prequel series. Pacific Rim earned $411M+ worldwide, with a sequel, Pacific Rim: Uprising, and an animated series, Pacific Rim: The Black, getting two action-packed seasons on Netflix. The franchise extends beyond the films and animated series to include comic books, action figures, meticulously crafted models, novelizations, and more.

In Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim,...

The Pacific Rim franchise started in 2013, and it was expected to continue with a new TV series prequel. Although the news of the prequel came out in August 2024, it took a long time before Legendary Entertainment was officially greenlit.

Now, the prequel has received a new exciting update. Per Variety, thePacific Rim TV show will be officially moving forward at Amazon Studios.The upcoming live-action project is in development and will premiere on Prime Video, per a lead between Legendary and Amazon MGM Studios.

Eric Heisserer was attached to the project, who previously developed the Netflix series Shadow and Bone, and wrote the script for 2016's Arrival, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He also wrote the script for 2010's A Nightmare on Elm Street, 2011's Final Destination 5, 2018's Bird Box, and, most recently, 2020's Bloodshot starring Vin Diesel. Heisserer will serve as writer and executive producer under his Chronology banner.

Prime Video is drift-compatible with Pacific Rim. A TV spinoff of Guillermo del Toro's 2013 mecha vs. monsters magnum opus is coming to the streaming service. Variety reports that Eric Heisserer is writing and executive producing the series.

Heisserer is an Academy Award nominee for his Arrivalscript; recently, he wrote and showran Netflix's Shadow and Bone. His Pacific Rim series is to be a prequel to the 2013 film, which previously received a 2018 sequel and a 2021 Netflix animated series. The new series will be live-action, but it does not rule out any future theatrical films in the franchise, which have lingered in development hell since 2018's Pacific Rim: Uprising disappointed at the box office. There is no word yet on whether any of the film's characters or cast members will return, or if the ever-busy del Toro will have any involvement with the series.

What Is 'Pacific Rim' About?...

Early last year, it was announced that Tom Cruise will be starring in the new film from director Alejandro Iñárritu for Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment, with this being Iñárritu’s first English language movie since The Revenant, which hit theatres back in 2015. Cruise’s co-stars on the project were then announced to be John Goodman (The Big Lebowski), Jesse Plemons (Civil War), Sophie Wilde (Talk to Me), Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall), and Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me by Your Name), with Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal). This will be Cruise’s first time working with all of these actors except for Plemons. Cruise and Plemons were both in the 2017 film American Made.

According to Deadline, House of the Dragon‘s Emma D’Arcy has now been added to the cast of the film. The news was confirmed by an exclusive statement D’Arcy had given to Deadline that read, “I...

Two-time Oscar winner Adrien Brody knows a thing (or two!) about serious dramatic acting. The actor became the youngest person to win the coveted Best Actor in a Leading Role award at the age of 29 for his part in "The Pianist" in 2003, and more recently he took the award home again for his role as László Tóth in Brady Corbet's impressive 2024 drama "The Brutalist." It might surprise fans to learn that Brody is actually quite good at lighter fare given his absolutely atrocious time hosting "Saturday Night Live," but in 2008 he starred in director Rian Johnson's most underrated film — "The Brothers Bloom."

"The Brothers Bloom" is a con-artist movie: a ridiculous caper with all kinds of meta-commentary on storytelling throughout, and Brody is the aching soul at the center of it that holds the wackiness together. Though many don't appreciate Johnson's second feature as much as his more serious debut,...

The live-action movie for Ya Boy Kongming! (Paripi Kōmei) just dropped a brand-new trailer and poster, revealing more of the cast and teasing an exciting lineup of songs. The film is set to hit theaters on April 25, 2025 and takes place at the ‘Music Battle Awards 2025,’ where Japan’s biggest music labels go head-to-head.

A key highlight is the song lineup. The main character Eiko, played by Moka Kamishiraishi, performs the insert song ‘Count on me,’ written by Shinya Ishihara from the band SaucyDog. Utaha from Wednesday’s Campanella plays Shin and sings ‘again and again,’ a song composed by Sōshi Sakiyama.

Mia Iriomote, played by Koharu Sugawara, will perform ‘New Zone,’ a track composed by Zo Zhit of Dos Monos. The ending theme, ‘Sing along!!!,’ is composed by Lilas Ikuta, known as ikura from Yoasobi. She previously wrote the song ‘Dreamer’ for the live-action series.

Several actors return from the drama,...

The official website for the upcoming live-action film adaptation of Yuto Yotsuba (story) and Ryo Ogawa's (art) comedy manga Ya Boy Kongming! (known as Paripi Koumei in Japan) released a main trailer featuring the theme song "Count on me" performed by Eiko, played by Moka Mamishiraishi . This is her first song for the live-action series in a year and a half since "Dreamer," an insert song for the TV drama in 2023. Ya Boy Kongming! Live-Action Movie Main Trailer "Count on me” was written and composed by Shinya Ishihara , vocalist of the three-piece rock band Saucy Dog . "The song 'Count on me,' which I newly wrote for the film, expresses the feeling of moving forward and moving with the music itself while putting Eiko's feelings first," said Ishihara. "The melody is easy for Eiko to sing and can be performed acapella. I created this song to give it an overall gorgeous feel.

Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi is set to star in “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!,” the third feature film from writer-director Josef Kubota Wladyka. Alberto Guerra, Alejandro Edda, You and Yoh Yoshida round out the international cast of the project, which is filming in Japan.

Plot details are currently being kept under wraps, but the film is described as a fantasy dance drama set in the vibrant city of Tokyo.

Nicholas Huynh co-wrote the script with Wladyka, who is also producing alongside Kimberly Parker Zox and Mao Nagakura. James Hausler and Kenji Ito are executive producing, and Thefool, Inc. is providing production services in Japan.

Wladyka’s prior work includes the two critically acclaimed and Indie Spirit Award-nominated features “Manos Sucias” and “Catch the Fair One.” The latter introduced boxing champion and Emmy nominee Kali Reis as a breakout star.

In 2007, Kikuchi became the first Japanese actress to be nominated for an Academy Award in 50 years,...

Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has created his own niche in Hollywood with a number of stellar stories. From The Shape of Water and the Hellboy franchise, del Toro has often shown an ability to create intense narratives, set in some surreal worlds.

The same was seen in Pacific Rim, which also exposed his meticulous approach to filmmaking. Kate Hawley, one of the costume designers on the movie, claimed the same. Hawley, who has worked on projects such as Crimson Peak and Mortal Engines, claimed that Pacific Rim was one of the messiest movies she ever worked on.

Kate Hawley revealed the obstacles of working with Guillermo del Toro A still from Pacific Rim | Credits: Warner Bros. Pictures

Del Toro approached Pacific Rim with a relentless commitment to precision. The film’s massive scale required meticulous coordination, including 101 unique sets constructed across Pinewood Toronto and other locations.

Related “I couldn...

In “Trespassers”, we get a quirky and entertaining television movie from screenwriter Bakarhythm and director Itaru Mizuno, the same tandem behind the critically acclaimed 2023 comedy series “Brush Up Life.”

They introduce us to three middle-aged women who decide to break into the house of the owner of a housekeeping company where two of them work. Tanaka (Rinko Kikuchi) and Ogawa (Kami Hiraiwa) learn about a rumor that their boss commits tax fraud. Thinking of their low salaries and their boss’s false branding as an ally for women, they decide to steal the tax money which they assume is hidden in her mansion. They justify this act among themselves as fair, since they are lowballed in terms of compensation and benefits and they plan to donate two thirds of the money to charity. The two seek the assistance of Eto (Yo Yoshida), Ogawa’s friend who claims she’s an...

Hollywood might be the United States of America, but when it comes to talent it sure is not limited to the country. Actors, writers, filmmakers, and more have for years graced the film industry with their remarkable talents.

However, not all have managed to make a mark as some have. The Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu is certainly one who has not only shocked audiences and critics with his mind-bending films but has also gone on to earn five Academy Awards as well as a Special Achievement Academy Award for his virtual reality work Carne y Arena.

Alejandro González Iñárritu | Credit: Image by Raph_PH licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A cut above the rest, he stands apart from his contemporaries, whether it be in Hollywood or elsewhere, as one of the most influential filmmakers of the 21st century. From deeply psychological drama films to profoundly introspective narratives,...

Pacific Rim is heading to a new streaming home just after the holidays.

Per Hulu, the hit 2013 sci-fi action film from writer-director Guillermo del Toro and co-writer Travis Beacham will officially make the move to the streaming platform on January 1. While this is big news for Hulu subscribers who are fans of the franchise, they will have to look elsewhere for both the sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising and follow-up series Pacific Rim: The Black.

Related Fans Spot a Sneaky Dragon Ball Easter Egg in First Superman Trailer (& It's Hilarious)

The opening of the first trailer for James Gunn's Superman drops David Corenswet's Man of Steel into the middle of a Yamcha Death Pose.

2013's Pacific Rim starred Charlie Hunnam as Raleigh Becket, a pilot for towering combat mechs known as Jaegers, which stand as humanity's first and last line of defense against monstrous, interdimensional Kaiju. The film also...

It’s not an easy feat to craft a completely original sci-fi story. The genre has been around for years, after all, arguably since British author Mary Shelley published Frankenstein back in 1818. A lot of great sci-fi movies, books, and TV shows that have come out since then have left their mark, so much so that their echoes can be found in every corner of this particular genre still to this day.

Still, the fact that a sci-fi TV show or movie isn’t exactly as original as it could be doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not high quality, or that it doesn’t have anything to add to the larger sci-fi scene. There have been plenty of great stories that have taken their inspiration from pre-existing properties and added their own twist to it, amassing accolades and dedicated fans in the process.

Pacific Rim (2013) Directed By Guillermo del Toro...

Pacific Rim is coming to Peacock. The 2013 sci-fi movie that boasts an all-star cast headed by Charlie Hunnam will be added to the streamer next month.

Beginning Dec. 1, Pacific Rim will be available to stream on Peacock. Directed and co-written by Guillermo del Toro, Pacific Rim is set in a future where humans are at war with gargantuan sea monsters who've emerged from an alternate dimension through a portal in the Pacific Ocean. To combat the monsters, humanity unites to create gigantic humanoid mechas known as Jaegers which are controlled by two co-pilots whose minds are joined by a mental link. Hunnam -- best known for his leading role in FX's Sons of Anarchy portrays a washed-up Jaeger pilot in the movie who is called out of retirement and teamed with rookie pilot Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) as part of a last-ditch effort to defeat the monsters.

Related Sons of Anarchy...

I’ve been late to some events in my life but today’s was the first where Tony Leung locked eyes while I opened the door. This, sadly, was not a one-on-one encounter or beginning of a Hong Kong co-production but the jury press conference for the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival at Toho Cinema Chanter, which the legendary production company manages, owns, and marks as their own with a Godzilla stationed outside the premises. Watching even one such event on YouTube––there’s, conservative estimate, 9,000 you can choose from across the span of the international fest circuit––you know how intimate these things get: almost everybody is a little jetlagged, hungover, under-caffeinated, and / or coasting on the energy of a hotel breakfast, the questions are not very good, and answers often their equal; not so much for lack of trying as it is means of reading the room, a...

Academy Awards® accredited and one of Asia’s largest international short film festivals, Short Shorts Film Festival (Ssff & Asia) starts annual “Screening in Autumn” today from Online Grand Theater (co-organized by Tokyo Metropolitan Government).

Tickets for screening & talk events in October are also on sale from today.

This year, in addition to the screening of 2024 award winning shorts, specially invited short films “Haunted by the Sound of the Wind” starring globally recognized actress who became the ambassador of Tokyo International Film Festival, Rinko Kikuchi and “The Chicken” by Neo Sora whose feature film was nominated Venice Film Festival will be showcased.

Furthermore, “Women in Focus program” (in cooperation with TIFF), commemorating the 160th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Switzerland “Swiss Eyes on Japan” program, and “Korean Shorts” program are also screened.

As the Online Grand Theater limited program, “Craft Stories Around Japan” starts global streaming today. 6 short films...

The concept of mech suits is woefully underutilized in modern filmmaking, but a rare few movies are able to prove the power of the sci-fi subgenre. In truth, the best movies featuring mechs often pale in comparison to even the most basic mecha anime, considering how deeply rooted in Japanese pop culture the idea of the mechanized combat suit is. Still, a rare handful of movies are able to do the mecha genre justice just as well as their serialized TV counterparts.

It goes without saying that many of the greatest films to feature mechs are simply the movie adaptations of mecha anime, or feature-length specials taking place in the same narrative. However, Hollywood and other independent Western filmmakers have had a few successful stabs at glorious live-action mech adventures, even if critical misses like Netflix's Atlas are just as common. From big-budget blockbusters with high-profile names attached to iconic animated movies,...

Guillermo del Toro's mecha vs kaiju beat-em-up blockbuster "Pacific Rim" is still his biggest commercial hit, but the sequel "Pacific Rim: Uprising" is largely considered a wash. Neither del Toro nor star Charlie Hunnam returned for "Uprising," which makes it extra easy to write off.

Hunnam played Raleigh Becket, a pilot of the "Jaeger" mecha Gipsy Danger, which was designed to kill enormous extradimensional monsters. In an interview with Inverse, when asked if he'd go back for a potential "Pacific Rim 3," Hunnam suggested it would need to be del Toro calling him back: "I would do anything that Guillermo was doing. If Guillermo invites me to do 'Pacific Rim 3,' I'll be there, or anything else he wants me to do."

Hunnam and del Toro first met when the latter was auditioning for "Hellboy II: The Golden Army." Hunnam did a make-up test for the film's villain, the cream-skinned elf Prince Nuada,...

A live-action Pacific Rim prequel TV series is in development, expanding the franchise in a surprising way. Despite interest in a third movie, the franchise is focusing on a prequel TV show instead. The upcoming series could explore the opening of the Breach in 2013 and the first battles with Kaiju.

The world of Pacific Rim will now expand with a new TV series, and it wasnt the expansion I was expecting from this franchise. Guillermo del Toro has brought a variety of stories to life throughout his career as a filmmaker, and one of his best yet most surprising works is Pacific Rim. Following his work on Hellboy II: The Golden Army, del Toro moved to another fantasy world, though now of his very own, in 2013 with the sci-fi monster film Pacific Rim, which introduced viewers to the Kaiju and the Jaegers built to defeat them.

Pacific Rim followed Raleigh...

Earlier this year, it was announced that Tom Cruise will be starring in the new film from director Alejandro Iñárritu for Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment, with this being Iñárritu’s first English language movie since The Revenant, which hit theatres back in 2015. Now Deadline has revealed the names of six of Cruise’s co-stars, breaking the news that he has been joined in the cast by John Goodman (The Big Lebowski), Jesse Plemons (Civil War), Sophie Wilde (Talk to Me), Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall), and Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me by Your Name), with Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) in final negotiations to join in as well. Details on the characters they’ll be playing are being kept under wraps.

This will be Cruise’s first time working with all of these actors except for Plemons. Cruise and Plemons were in the 2017 film American Made together.

Iñárritu co-wrote...

Pacific Rim is the latest film franchise to leap to the small screen. Released in 2013, the film is set in the final days of a war in which mankind has created giant piloted robots called Jaegars to fight off giant monsters called Kaijus. The film previously spawned a sequel in 2018, Pacific Rim: Uprising, and an anime series in 2021, Pacific Rim: The Black. Now, it looks like the franchise will be getting a big-budget television series from an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter.

Pacific Rim PG-13 Where to Watchstreamrentbuy

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Release Date July 11, 2013Director Guillermo del ToroCast Charlie Hunnam, Diego Klattenhoff, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Burn GormanRuntime 131Main Genre ActionWriters Travis Beacham, Guillermo del ToroTagline To Fight Monsters, We Created Monsters Expand

Variety reports that Eric Heisserer has signed a first-look television deal with Legendary Entertainment, with the first project being a Pacific Rim series. The series will be an origin series,...

The Pacific Rim robots are coming to the small screen.

As part of a first-look television deal with Legendary Entertainment, writer/producer Eric Heisserer (Shadow and Bone, Arrival) is developing an origin story series for the movie franchise, our sister site Variety reports.

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The Pacific Rim films are set in a future where Earth is at...

The world of Pacific Rim will soon be further explored. It's been revealed that the franchise is set to be revived, but not for the big screen.

Per Variety, Legendary Entertainment has formed a first-look TV deal with Eric Heisserer. The deal will see Heisserer and Chronology partner Carmen Lewis creating IP-driven content for Legendary. The first title to be worked on as part of the new deal is a Pacific Rim prequel series. This news follows Heisserer and Chronology setting a first-look movie deal at Sony Pictures.

Related Pacific Rim & Monsterverse Fans Need to Watch This New Anime

Kaiju No. 8 is finally getting an anime adaptation, and it's the perfect watch for those who love Godzilla, the MonsterVerse or Pacific Rim.

Eric is a multitalented, prolific creator whose track record of critical and commercial successes speaks for itself, Legendary Television president Jason Clodfelter said in a statement. We...

Legendary Entertainment is developing a Pacific Rim prequel TV series in collaboration with Eric Heisserer. The show will extend the Pacific Rim universe, focusing on the prequel story without revealing the plot yet. Although a Pacific Rim 3 movie remains uncertain, the TV series suggests the franchise's storytelling transition towards television.

The Pacific Rim universe is expanding through a new prequel series. Pacific Rim was originally a 2013 film directed by Guillermo del Toro, featuring a leading cast including Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Burn Gorman, Charlie Day, and Max Martini. The plot focuses on a war between humans and massive kaiju sea creatures that begin to take over, and was followed up by the poorly-reviewed film Pacific Rim: Uprising.

As per Variety, a new Pacific Rim TV series is now in development. The TV show will come as a result of a first-look deal between Legendary Entertainment and Eric Heisserer.

The best Pacific Rim sequel, Pacific Rim: The Black, is a character-driven anime-inspired series set in a post-apocalyptic Australia. Based on context clues, the show takes place after Pacific Rim: Uprising and expands the franchise's lore with new characters and a fresh setting. Although there has been talk of expanding the Pacific Rim cinematic universe, Pacific Rim 3 is not currently in development.

Although it didn't get the attention it deserved, the best Pacific Rim sequel came out in 2021 and it's much better than Pacific Rim: Uprising, the 2018 sequel to Guillermo del Toro's hit Kaiju-monster film. Penned by del Toro and Travis Beacham, the original Pacific Rim movie, which hit theaters in 2013, garnered a whopping $411 million at the global box office and received solid reviews from critics and audiences alike, despite its style-over-substance approach. In Pacific Rim, humans are at war with Kaiju enormous monsters that have crawled out of an inter-dimensional portal.

Quick Links Pacific Rim Uprising and the Quest for Continuation Factors Behind the Delay of Pacific Rim 3 Pacific Rim 3's Potential Plot and Evolution

Epic battles, weird creatures, and far-off futures have all been common themes in the realm of science fiction films. Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim burst into cinemas in 2013, promising a distinctive fusion of enormous monsters, machines, and interdimensional combat. The movie sent viewers to a dismal future when considerable beasts known as "kaiju" erupted from a submerged doorway into another realm. Huge robot mech suits called "jaegers" were built by humanity as a response to this menace, which were piloted by a pair of neurally connected pilots.

With its enthralling visual spectacle and plot that blurred genre lines, the first Pacific Rim movie made a mark that will never fade. It gained praise from the critics and a devoted following. So much so that a...

“Tokyo Vice” , the 2022 crime drama TV series based on the 2009 book by Jake Adelstein, starring Ansel Elgort ("Baby Driver"), Ken Watanabe ("The Last Samurai") and Rinko Kikuchi ("Babel") has been canceled after 2 seasons on Max:

“… Set in the late 1990’s, journalist ‘Jake Adelstein’ relocates to Tokyo to join the staff of a major Japanese newspaper as their first foreign-born reporter.

“Taken under the wing of a veteran detective in the vice squad, he starts to explore a dangerous life in the Japanese underworld…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Tokyo Vice will not be returning for a third season. Max has confirmed the cancellation of the crime drama after two seasons on the streaming service. The 10-episode second season premiered in February.

The Tokyo Vice series, which stars Ansel Elgort, Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Keller, Show Kasamatsu, Ayumi Ito, Yosuke Kubozuka, and Miki Maya, follows the first-hand account of the Tokyo crime scene by American journalist Jake Adelstein (Elgort).

Read More…...

Tokyo Vice season 3 is cancelled by Max despite being a critically acclaimed show. Series creator J.T. Rogers remains hopeful about the show's future.

Tokyo Vice season 3 is cancelled by Max, but the series creator remains hopeful about the show's future. Loosely based on the 2009 non-fiction book by journalist Jake Adelstein, the crime drama debuted in April 2022. With famed Heat director Michael Mann directing the first episode, and J.T. Rogers developing the adaptation, the story follows Ansel Elgort as an American who wants to become a journalist in Tokyo. But in the show's late 1990s setting, nothing is as it seems. The cast of Tokyo Vice also includes Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Keller, Ella Rumpf, Hideaki Ito, Show Kasamatsu, and Tomohisa Yamashita.

Deadline now confirms that Tokyo Vice season 3 will not happen, as Max has canceled the show. Read the statement from Max's spokesperson below:

From Tokyo...

One of the most critically acclaimed shows on Max (formerly HBO Max) is coming to an end, with it revealed today that Tokyo Vice’s second season will be its last. The show starred Ansel Elgort as American journalist Jake Adelstein, upon whose memoir the show was based. In it, Adelstein, a crime reporter, relocates to Tokyo and becomes embroiled in the world of the Japanese Yakuza. Ken Watanabe played his mentor, a detective investigating organized crime in the city, while Rachel Keller, Sho Kasamatsu and Rinko Kikuchi co-starred.

The pilot episode for the show was famously directed by the great Michael Mann, who also served as one of the show’s executive producers. It was originally commissioned at a time when Warner-Discovery was hoping to make HBO Max a hub for high-end series, only for many of their shows, including Raised by Wolves, The Flight Attendant, and now Tokyo Vice...

Raleigh Becket, the key protagonist of Pacific Rim, meets a tragic end from cancer in the sequel's prequel novel. Connection to toxic Kaiju world leads Raleigh to a battle with cancer, ending his life post-Pacific Rim. The movie sequel, Pacific Rim Uprising, doesn't explain Raleigh's absence, leaving room for a potential Charlie Hunnam return in a future installment.

Raleigh Becket is the key protagonist in Pacific Rim, and yet he is nowhere to be seen in the 2018 sequel, Pacific Rim Uprising. The Pacific Rim timeline expands out from the original 2013 movie and, despite taking place in the same universe, characters rarely reappear. The original Pacific Rim covers the events of the first appearance of Kaiju from the interdimensional portal and ends with the destruction of that rift. Pacific Rim 2 follows closely behind with the reveal that the monster gate was not entirely destroyed.

One of the Jaegers responsible...

Guillermo Del Toro loves giant robot action films and he even made a film based on the mechas, Pacific Rim. When Del Toro promoted his 2013 film in Japan, he came across a life-sized Gundam statue that left him in awe. As the old video resurfaces on the internet, fans call for a live-action Gundam movie directed by the Pan’s Labyrinth director. Some fans also wanted him to consider making another film in the Pacific Rim franchise.

Guillermo Del Toro’s old video prompts fans to demand a live-action movie based on the central character from Mobile Suit Gundam

Del Toro’s love for all the nerdy things is quite famous and his home is filled with collectibles and memorabilia. He has also revealed his love for video games and Japanese manga and anime. Seeing the Gundam statue, the true nerd in him just came out.

Guillermo Del Toro’s...

If there's any reason to be thankful for Tokyo Vice, it's that it brought Rinko Kikuchi back to American screens. While only being a fixture in Hollywood for under a decade, she covered so many bases in such a short period of time. She received an Oscar nomination for her study of the teenage communication breakdown in Babel, served as a deadly assassin in Rian Johnson's underrated movie, The Brothers Bloom, and enshrined herself in the nerd hall of fame as Mako Mori in Pacific Rim. It's the last film in her streak that has served as a unique use of her talents, being the poster child for Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter. David Zellner's charming sort-of love letter to Fargo ascends its own heights, becoming an exploration of media escapism and the disappointments of life.

Jake makes risky choices for justice in Tokyo Vice, sacrificing friendships and betraying sources in the dangerous world of yakuza investigations. Katagiri's retirement is short-lived as viewers eagerly await his return to combat new threats in Tokyo's shifting underworld landscape. Samantha's resilience shines as she rises above defeat, paving her own way as a successful nightclub owner with the potential for a romance subplot.

Warning: Spoilers for Tokyo Vice.

Tokyo Vice follows Jake (Ansel Elgort), an American living in Tokyo who becomes the first foreign-born journalist to land a job at a major Japanese newspaper, the Meicho. There, he encounters a tough boss, Eimi (Rinko Kikuchi), and a corporate culture shock he eventually settles into rather quickly, given his passion for reporting on what’s really happening in the city. Based on a true story detailed in a memoir by Jake Adelstein, the series chronicles his experiences as he...

[Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for “Tokyo Vice” Season 2, Episode 10, “Endgame.”]

In “Tokyo Vice,” honor is a double-edged katana. On one end sits Ozaki (Bokuzō Masana), the Meicho Shimbun newspaper executive who confesses to Emi (Rinko Kikuchi) that he was the one who destroyed the Yoshino videotape — although “confesses” is too generous a word. Ozaki solves her season-long mystery without batting an eye, before mansplaining his action as if Emi is an idiot. He had to destroy the tape. If the Meicho ran a story about a government official’s involvement in the murder of a hostess, then the paper would be frozen out of government business for years. “And how would that serve our readers?” he asks. So now that Emi has brought him further evidence against prime-minister-in-waiting Jotaro Shigematsu (Hajime Inoue), proving his ties to Yakuza leader Shinzo Tozama (Ayumi Tanida), the dignified thing to do is turn over her documents to the proper parties,...

The 17th annual Asian Film Awards (Afa) announced the winners and special award recipients at a ceremony held at the West Kowloon Cultural District's Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong on March 10, 2024. Sixteen competitive prizes and six honorary prizes were given out.

A total of thirty-five films from 24 countries and regions were nominated for 16 prizes at the 17th Afa. From Japan, Ryusuke Hamaguchi 's Evil Does Not Exist received the Best Film Award and Best Original Music (Eiko Ishibashi), marking the second year in a row that Hamaguchi and Ishibashi have received Afa Awards; and Hirokazu Kore-eda won the Best Director Award with Monster, following last year's wins with his Korean film Broker. Koji Yakusho won the Best Actor Award for Perfect Days, his second such Afa Award following his win at the 13th Afa in 2019 for The Blood of Wolves. Perfect Days won the Best Director Award at the Japan...

"Not fake, it's real!" Bleecker Street has revealed a brand new trailer for a 2024 re-release of a lost indie cult classic called Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival as the latest Zellner Brothers creation, their fifth feature film at the time after Kid-Thing in 2012. It played at tons of fests, became a cult hit, but barely got a proper release and hasn't been available to watch on VOD for a while. In honor of the film's 10th anniversary, and with the wild return of the Zellner Brothers glorious Sasquatch Sunset this year, it's landing in theaters again in March before the Sasquatches arrive in April. Rinko Kikuchi stars as Kumiko, a jaded Japanese office worker who discovers a hidden copy of Fargo (1996) on VHS, believing it to be a treasure map indicating the location of a large case of money. She travels to America...

The urban legend of a woman who died trying to find the fictional “Fargo” suitcase full of cash became an indie drama breakout hit for filmmakers the Zellner Brothers.

The Zellners debuted “Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter” at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, capturing the tale of a Tokyo-based office worker, played by Oscar-nominated “Babel” star Rinko Kikuchi, who trekked to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in search of the money that Steve Buscemi’s character buries in the snow at the end of the Coens’ “Fargo.” The blurring of fact and fiction, reality and film, turned “Kumiko” into a cult classic in the making. And the film has since been notoriously hard to find, as it’s not currently available on streaming platforms.

Now, in honor of the film’s 10-year anniversary, Bleecker Street is re-releasing the feature in theaters and on demand. “Kumiko” is directed by David Zellner from a script he co-wrote with his brother Nathan Zellner.

Discover the amusing interpretation of the "I Want It That Way" song on Tokyo Vice season 1, episode 4. Uncover the real meaning behind the confusing lyrics of "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys. Explore the cultural differences highlighted in Tokyo Vice, showcasing language barriers and societal archetypes.

Tokyo Vice season 1, episode 4 has amusingly shed some light on the "I Want It That Way" meaning. Tokyo Vice stars Ansel Elgort as Jake Adelstein, an American reporter in Japan in the late '90s. Adelstein works for the largest newspaper in the world and gets pulled into the underworld of the Yakuza during his investigations. Loosely based on the memoir Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan by the real Adelstein, the show co-stars Ken Watanabe, Rachel Keller, Rinko Kikuchi, Shô Kasamatsu, Ella Rumpf, Shun Sugata, and Ayumi Tanida.

Tokyo Vice dives into the cultural differences...

Here’s some exciting news: Deadline reports that Tom Cruise is set to star in a new movie from Alejandro Iñárritu for Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment. This would be Iñárritu’s first English language movie since The Revenant, which hit theaters nearly a decade ago.

Plot details are being kept under wraps, but it’s said that Iñárritu co-wrote the script last year with Sabina Berman as well as his Birdman co-writers Alexander Dinelaris and Nicolás Giacobone. It was reported yesterday that Tom Cruise was looking to return to more serious, dramatic fare with an award-winning director, and Alejandro Iñárritu certainly fits the bill. The movie will also be the first project that will fall under Cruise’s strategic partnership with Warner Bros.

Related Will Tom Cruise return to more serious dramatic movies under Warner Bros. deal?

According to Deadline’s report, Cruise arranged a meeting with Iñárritu as...

The fight scenes in the Pacific Rim franchise, particularly the Kaiju battles, are consistently the most entertaining and engaging scenes. While Pacific Rim: Uprising may have been a stumbling point for the franchise, it still offered decent colossal spectacle on par with the first movie. Pacific Rim: The Black, a recent anime series, enjoyed modest success with standout monster battles and the anime format was a perfect fit for the giant Kaiju-fighting mecha.

Pacific Rim is a franchise known for its epic fight scenes with gargantuan opponents, pitting the monstrous Kaiju against the awe-inspiring giant robots, the Jaegers. Pacific Rim knew what it wanted to deliver audiences -- Unsubtle skyscraper-scale robot-on-monster action. The first film certainly made good on this promise, and even if the second film was a stumbling point for the franchise, as Pacific Rim: Uprising wasn't directed by Guillermo del Toro, it still offered some decent colossal...

Road movies have been becoming more and more common in the Japanese movie industry, particularly since the “opening” of the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, ten years after the initial events. Kazuyoshi Kumakiri also directs a film of the canon, although the aforementioned theme is just part of the narrative here, in a title that won Best Film, Best Actress and Best Screenplay in Shanghai and is headed by an impressive performance by Rinko Kikuchi.

Yoko is screening at Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme

The Oscar-nominee plays the titular, 42-year-old woman, who is single and lives in her apartment in Tokyo, having a part time job as online customer support, and seemingly never going out, exhibiting an intense sense of agoraphobia and depression. When her cousin, Shigeru, comes knocking at her door in order to inform her that her estranged for 20 years father has died, Yoko is forced to leave...

It’s been nearly two years since the premiere of “Tokyo Vice,” in which director Michael Mann introduced us to yet another lonely male obsessive. As the sole Caucasian employee of Tokyo’s largest newspaper, Jake Adelstein (Ansel Elgort) — a real-life journalist and executive producer of the show, which is loosely based on his memoir of the same name — stood out like a sore thumb. He also acted as a Virgil guiding American viewers through the Japanese underworld at the turn of the millennium. Jake investigates organized crime via an informal partnership with Hiroto Katagiri (Ken Watanabe), a policeman who doesn’t fight the yakuza so much as help preserve the equilibrium among their competing factions. Samantha (Rachel Keller), a Mormon missionary turned apostate, served a similar purpose to Jake, but as a guide to hostess bars, a source of paid yet strictly nonsexual company unfamiliar to Westerners.

In Season...

Season two of Tokyo Vice is the climax of the story, with the first episode serving as the climax of season one. Expect gripping action, high tension, and moral questions for the main characters in season two. Show Kasamatsu and Rachel Keller discuss their characters' arcs and their experience working on the show.

For J.T. Rogers, the creator of HBO Max’s hit action series Tokyo Vice, the road to creating the series has been filled with passion and plenty of twists. It all began back in a Driver’s Ed class in Columbia, Missouri, many decades ago. Taking tests and waiting for test drives, Rogers met classmate Jake Adelstein, who’d become the famed journalist on which Tokyo Vice is based. Adelstein spent much of his career in Japan, often seeing its gritty underbelly, and eventually wrote the bestseller Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan.

Curb Your Enthusiasm returns to Max this month in what’s being called the show’s final season (for now). If you’re not ready for the Larry David-centric comedy series to end, you can binge all eleven of the show’s previous seasons on Max right now before hitting the new episodes.

Tokyo Vice will also be back in February for season 2. Stars Ansel Elgort, Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Keller, Show Kasamatsu, and Ayumi Ito are joined by Kubozuka and Miki Maya this time around, as Jake Adelstein feels the danger closing in on him. Max also welcomes you to the premiere of the highly acclaimed (and highly depraved) Dicks: The Musical this month, as a couple of self-obsessed businessmen discover they’re identical twins and decided to bring their divorced parents back together.

Here’s everything coming to (and leaving) HBO and Max this month…

HBO...

What To Watch In February 2024: 22 Films, 9 Web-Shows! (Picture Credit: IMDb/Instagram)

All you cinephiles, listen carefully because ‘What to Watch in February 2024’ has arrived with varied structures of films and shows at your disposal. From Shahid Kapoor, Kriti Sanon‘s AI-Sci-fi love story in Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya to Mammootty‘s spine-chilling horror flick in Bramayugam, there’s at least one movie for everyone of you in this month (there are 22 of them).

Even as far as the web shows are concerned, out of the nine assorted ones, you’ll get Childish Gambino attempting to thrill you in the spy-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith; you’ll have Sushmita Sen finishing things off with Aarya Antim War (season 3).

You’ll also see Michael Dante Dimartino and Bryan Konietzko’s vision getting a live-action treatment in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. Let’s check out the list of...

February may be the shortest month, but Max is staying true to its name with a jam-packed schedule of additions all month long!

In addition to dozens of library shows and movies getting added to the platform throughout February—from classics like “Citizen Kane” and “A Clockwork Orange” to recent A24 favorites like “Midsommar” and “Dicks: The Musical“—several major HBO premieres are coming this week to the cabler and its streamer, including Season 11 of “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” and the final season of the long-running “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Find out The Streamable’s top picks for February, and continue below to the full list of everything new on Max this month!

7-Day Free Trial $9.99+ / month Max via amazon.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Max in February 2024? “Chasing Flavor” | Thursday, Feb. 1

“The Chew” host and “Top Chef” fan favorite Carla Hall hits the...

Presented by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, and Japan Society

February 15-24, 2024 at Japan Society

and partner venues in NYC

New York, NY – Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan and Japan Society are proud to announce the eighth installment of the Aca Cinema Project film series – Family Portrait: Japanese Family in Flux – an ongoing initiative fostered by the Government of Japan to increase awareness and appreciation of Japanese films and filmmakers in the United States. The Aca Cinema Project has presented events in both New York and LA since 2021, and its upcoming edition will showcase over nine contemporary and classic films from February 15-24, 2024 all with the central theme of the modern family. The bonds of the Japanese family are often revered in the West, and this series will both celebrate these traditions as well as call into question their reality and relevance in our quickly changing modern world.