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

Castle of Cagliostro is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

Castle of Cagliostro is an excellent anime movie, with lots of humor and action.

Recommended!

As for life-action: we'll see it when we see it... I doubt Hollywood can do it, the character of Lupin the 3rd doesn't seem to fit any of their stereotypes.

Funny

[Anonymous Coward]

First american movie based on a japanese anime based on a french book (arsene lupin).
Will a french adaptation be made after that?

Re:Funny

[Robotech_Master]

You can actually find quite a few of the Arsene Lupin novels and stories--including a couple that I donated to be scanned for Gutenberg (though they haven't made it to Gutenberg yet for some reason)--at BlackMask.com. Just search on Maurice Leblanc. They're very good.

Re:Question

[Anonymous Coward]

Imagine the A-Team, with incredibly skinny legs, and instead of helping people out, they try to rip people off. Oh, and a hot chick that is a backstabbing bitch, and also the only character with normal looking legs.

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.

However...

[rde]

However, it's being renamed Lupin to accommodate the foolish americans who haven't seen Lupins I or II

Re:However...

[GothChip]

Not based on an urban legend but actually based on truth.

The movie is based on a play by Alan Bennett called "The Madness of George III". The popular story in the UK is that the movie's title is different from that of the play because it was thought the American audience might mistake it for a sequel. While not wholly true, director Nicholas Hytner has confirmed that it was "not wholly untrue" and it is now widely held that this almost certainly did play a part in the titling of the film. In the UK it would be obvious to anyone that "George III" referred to King George III, but it was felt that elsewhere this might not be so clear and that adding "King" to the title might help. While this explains part of the title change, it glosses over the dropping of the "III", adding renewed weight to the original theory.

Distribution Deal

[CleverNickName]

I have it on good authority that this will be distributed by Dennis Moore.

Lupin

[stratjakt]

I've been watching the cartoons on cartoon network. I get the sense that it was probably really funny in its original japanese, but it's all lost in the translation, and whats left is sort of a lukewarm and lame attempt at humor.

Humor just doesnt translate like action does.

The premise is solid enough to make a good movie. Just so long as some good writers write a good script in english, and dont try to translate some old scripts.

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...

CliffHanger

[CommieLib]

Lupin III was also used to make the classic 80's videodisc game, Cliff Hanger.

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.

Re:Question

[skahshah]

If you want to know more about the original Arsène Lupin, gentleman-burglar, and the author, Maurice Leblanc: here and there

Official website

[Apreche]

If you've never heard of lupin before head to www.lupinofficial.com to catch a glimpse. It's the official website pioneer set up to advertise the tv/dvd showings of the original lupin tv series on CN. You should be able to watch it Monday through Thursday nights at midnight + 1/2 on cartoon network. Before it starting rerunning episodes (because it takes awhile to dub new ones) me and my friends watched it religiously. We also watch every movie we can get our hands on. Lupin is absolutely hilarious. A great party anime.

And I quote

Ahhhh, the old exploding bear trap on the ass trick!

Obligatory Haiku

[Chocolate Teapot]

"That's not a lupin!"
(whips a plant from back of belt)
"This is a lupin!"

Why is it...

[Mossfoot]

...that everytime Hollywood uses a much loved idea from other source I get this cold shiver down my spine? ;) Seriously, wouldn't you be worried if Disney decided to do their own version of Spirited Away or Princess Moanoke instead of just getting distribution rights?

Hmmm.. didn't they do that with The Lion King? I'm pretty sure I've seen a series of a similar theme out here that predates the movie... could be wrong though... I may live in Japan, but I still can't read Japanese ;)

Re:Question

[Thomas M Hughes]

for those of us not in the know, anyone wanna step up and fill us in a bit about this?

I'll leave the technical details about the show history out for someone else to fill in, but I can give you a basic rundown of the plot and the characters...

Lupin the 3rd is basically a story about the exploits of four legendary thieves and an Interpol investigator who's constantly on their trail. They seem to try to rob and rip people off more for the challenge of it then for the actual money (though, they do seem to enjoy the money as well). Central to Lupin's character is that he doesn't seem to be a killer, just an unorthodox thief.

Lupin (pronounced Loop-ON, I believe) is the grandson of a legendary criminal, and has taken on his legacy of performing impossible crimes under the very nose of authorities many times. His main ability seems to be his quick wit and extreme intelligence when it comes to stealing things. He (as well as the rest of the crew) is a fairly good master of disguise.

Jigan is a guy who tends to wear a suit and a dark hat, drinks an awful lot, and is a damn good shot with a revolver. He's generally a rather pragmatic figure who tends to just like hanging out with Lupin, because Lupin's an interesting guy.

Goemon is a legendary swordsman (a kind of stereotypical samurai), who also enjoys just hanging out with Lupin and Jigan. Of all the characters, he is probably the most outlandish, performing rather impossible feats with his sword. However, it would not be difficult to mute this down to reality's level.

Fujiko (not positive on the spelling of these names by the way) is who Lupin is particularly smitten with. She has rather um...large breasts (sorry, there's really little else to say, since they're kind of central to her character). Of the 4 criminal characters, she is probably the most in it for money. She is probably the best at disgusing herself, and will often backstab multiple people just to get more money for herself. She often attempts to pull one over on the other main characters to enrich herself. Jigan and Goemon aren't too fond of her, but put up with her because of Lupin.

Zenigata is the Interpol inspector who has gotten pretty good at figuring out where and how Lupin works, but he has some behavioral problems so the local authorities tend to not believe him or comply with him fully when he makes requests. As such, he's usually there to witness Lupin's hijinks, but he never seems to catch him. Also referred to as "Pops."

That's the basics of it. Its a pretty fun, though simple show.

Re:Castle of Cagliostro

[Mononoke]

I know this is heresey, but I don't think that The Castle of Cagliostro stands up with Miyazaki's best work.

I agree with you here. You can tell that this was a Miyazaki episode of Lupin, but that he may not have put as much of his heart into it as he would have one of his original stories.

For me the definitive Miyazaki scene is in Tonari no Totoro, when they're at the bus stop, and Totoro shows up. That moment when they're standing there in the rain, and she loans him her umbrella. There's so much that's good in that moment -- wonder, kindness, etc. -- and it all fits together perfectly.

For me the definitive Miyazaki scene is in Nausicaa when she is first given Teto. Teto bit into Nausicaa's finger out of fear and she remained calm, calming Teto in the process and proving to Teto that she could be trusted absolutely.

More like Rupan III

[yerricde]

In some countries, the maker of Lupin III can't publish under the title Lupin III because of trademark problems. In those countries, he becomes "The Wolf" (literal translation of "Lupin") or "Rupan III" (transliteration of kana).

Some minor corrections.

[Alkaiser]

Lupin (pronounced Loo-PAN/PON. The syllablization cuts after the "lu" and depending on who's pronouncing it, it'll sound like Lu-PON or Lu-PAN. If you watch the dubbed anime in the US, they often refer to him as Ru-pan but that's not quite right.) is pretty much like described above, but in addition, will never take the same punch twice. This is why in certain cases you'll see him absorb a tremendous amount of damage...he's studying the foe's moves for the next time they meet.

Also, Lupin will be smitten by whichever single female the writers put in the plot for that day. He's not really obsessed with Fujiko...she just happens to be in range more often than other women. Lupin has his heart swiped as often as he swipes stuff.

Jigen Daisuke is Lupin's main sidekick. Looks exactly like Abe Lincoln, and is vicious with his gun...as long as he has his hat.

Goemon has a love/hate relationship with Lupin and Jigen. Sometime it seems like the group is begrudging friends, other times it seems like Goemon's only there to get paid. His katana cuts through anything. (In the intro to the PS2 game, he cuts a suspension bridge in half.)

Fujiko is a female character from Lupin's past who hangs around his present to get her share of the loot. It's implied that they had something going on before the comic started but it's never really revealed if this is only in Lupin's mind, or if Fujiko actually agrees upon this. She's a tease and uses her...ample skills to fulfill her role and is basically in it for the money, though if it comes down to it, she'll begrudgingly choose saving the guys over getting away with the loot.

Zenigata is an inspector that runs around trying to catch Lupin. If he does, it's never for more than a couple minutes, kinda like the A-Team. Zenigata will declare various little truces with Lupin, especially in the movies, because he sees that Lupin's trying to stop a greater evil. (usually for money/the girl.) This allows for Zenigata to look like he's still doing work, instead of just chasing Lupin all the time.

Castle of Cagliostro is the Lupin film most fans will recommend you watch. It's good stuff. I also enjoyed "The Legend of Harimao's Treasure" and "The Fuma Conspiracy".

Re:Lupin III is not a good example of Anime.

[amuro98]

Lupin's popularity in Japan was mainly due to the whole spy/gadget craze back in the 60s - when Lupin debuted.

Most Americans were introduced to Lupin via the movie "Cagliostro Castle" which still stands today as one of the classics of anime, as well as just being an overall great action film.

With the Lupin cartoon on TV in America, now Americans can see what the original was like. Cagliostro Castle toned the characters down a bit (especially Fujiko.)

Still, if you're a fan of the older James Bond films, along with the Flint spy films and The Pink Panther films, then there's a pretty good chance you'll find Lupin III enjoyable.