Lupin III Coming to Hollywood

Secret anime ninja writes "A story in today's Toronto Star says, "Master thief Lupin the Third, a comic book hero in Japan for more than 30 years, will soon make his Hollywood debut." The story goes on to say that it's been optioned by the producer of Minority Report, Schindler's List and Jurassic Park." Lupin III is currently airing on Cartoon Network and several Lupin movies are available on DVD. Castle of Cagliostro, directed by Miyazaki is a great movie.

Comments

Lupin ? Hollywood ?

[koh]

It is often hard to derive Japanese art and not lose that something that made the movie enjoyable.

I hope Hollywood does a better job with Lupin than with The Ring... I don't have much hope, touch, since Lupin is 1) animation and 2) based on humor.

Maybe it will be better than scooby-doo...

Re:Lupin ? Hollywood ?

[Thomas M Hughes]

Lupin III is interesting because it really doesn't need to be a cartoon. Meaning, the effects taken aren't that outlandish (ala, Scooby Doo, or Dragonball Z). In fact, Lupin III could have been a very interesting live action piece from the very beginning as far as I can tell. The main reason to go animated over live action is that you can afford a lot more animated explosions and flying planes and exotic places internationally with drawings and ink then you could with a real set.

I think the comparison with 007 is really valid in this case. Whenever I watch Lupin III, it feels really similar to watching 007, if he had a set of good friends he hung out with, and he was a master gentleman thief.

Having said all that, I won't be seeing this movie, as interesting as it might be. A tight budget means entertainment tends to get cut first.

Lupin Moive

[E-Rock-23]

Thanks to Cartoon Network, I've been able to finally see the Lupin III TV series. Despite it's dated nature and the modernization of the dub script (tons of modern refferences), I find the show enjoyable, and watch it damn near religiously.

But a live action Lupin movie? And from Hollywood, no less? Has anyone here seen G-Savior?

I think that, because it's Lupin, I'll hold on to a little hope that the fruitcakes in Hollywood won't mangle it, but I'm afraid that my hope is misplaced. They might try a live action "Cogliostro," which wouldn't be bad, but would probably insult the greatness that is Haiyo Miazaki (just like I'll bet they'll snub him at the Oscars).

Another sad option is that they'll try to turn this whole thing into another "Hudson Hawk." They could try to turn it into an action flick (almost making Jigen and Goemon the stars as opposed to Lupin), but then they'd offer the part to not-so-awesome "action stars" like Vin "I Look Good Standing Next To Hot Cars" Diesel or Duane "The Rock" Johnson.

If Hollywood were smart, they'd drop the idea entirely. But they're not smart, they're money hungry, so they'll jump all over it and turn it into overproduced fluff. Still, I have hope that somehow, someway, by some wild twist of fate, Hollywood can overcome it's current stigma and actually make a good flick based on an excellent Anime...

Re:Cartoon Network

[argmanah]

It is indeed from the 70s, or most of it is anyway. Many, many changes were made by the dubbers. This would be acceptable perhaps if the actual dub was good, but alas it is not. I'm a huge Lupin fan but I couldn't make it through more than about 15 seconds of the CN version.

Agreed. For better or worse, we have a habit of Americanizing anything that comes over here. Watching anime transform from original Japanese to American television is often a scary process. You sometimes wonder if the editors understood why the anime had appeal in the first place. Good seiyuus (voice actors), interesting storyline, mature issues... many of these things often disappear when the American producers get ahold of it.

Then you watch something like Cowboy Bebop and you regain some faith in the system.

Bringing it over dubbed and edited can still be good, but only if the company doing it is competent.