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Davis Film Gets Golgo 13 Assassin Manga's Film Rights
posted on by Egan Loo
The production company Davis Film announced at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday that it acquired the film adaptation rights for Takao Saitō's assassin manga Golgo 13 from Japan's LEED Publishing Co., Ltd.
The manga launched in November 1968 in the January 1969 issue of Shogakukan's Big Comic magazine, and it is the longest-running manga still being serialized. It centers around the unrivaled assassin-for-hire Duke Togo and his exploits around the world. The manga already inspired two earlier live-action films (one starring Ken Takakura in 1973 and another starring Sonny Chiba in 1977), an anime film, a video anime project, and a television anime series.
Davis Film's previous film credits include the live-action film based on the Crying Freeman manga, as well as the live-action films based on the Resident Evil and Silent Hill video game franchises. Samuel Hadida founded and presides over Davis Film.
Viz Media published selected chapters from the four-decade-long run of the original Golgo 13 manga in North America. Sentai Filmworks and Section23 Film released the television anime series.
Source: The Wrap, Screen International, Hollywood Reporter
Update: More background information added.
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