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Encore Films to Open Gintama Live-Action Film in Singapore in July

Film distributor Encore Films announced on Thursday that it will open the live-action film of Hideaki Sorachi's Gintama manga in Singapore on July 13, one day before the film's July 14 debut in Japan.

While Encore Films previously announced that it will release the film in both Singapore and Indonesia, it has not yet announced an Indonesian release date for the film.

Yūichi Fukuda (live-action HK/Hentai Kamen, Mr. Nietzsche in the Convenience Store) is directing the film, as well as penning the script. The film's cast includes:

Shun Oguri as Gintoki Sakata, the protagonist who runs the Yorozuya shop

Masaki Suda as Shinpachi Shimura, who works at Yorozuya

Kanna Hashimoto as Kagura, another Yorozuya employee

Masaki Okada as Kotarō Katsura, Gintoki's longtime sworn friend, alongside Elizabeth

Masami Nagasawa as Tae Shimura, a physically strong girl and sister of Shinpachi

Tsuyoshi Muro as Gengai Hiraga, the proprietor of Karakuri-dō

Jirō Satō as Henpeita Takechi

Nanao as Matako Kijima

Tsuyoshi Dōmoto as Shinsuke Takasugi (left), Hirofumi Arai as Nizō Okada (right)

Ken Yasuda as Tetsuya Murata

Akari Hayami as Tetsuko Murata

Kankurō Nakamura VI as Isao Kondo, a Shinsengumi commander

Yuuya Yagira as Toshiro Hijikata, a Shinsengumi member who is most popular with girls

Ryō Yoshizawa as Sougo Okita, a sharp-tounged Shinsengumi member

Comedian Galigali Galixon will also appear in the film, although Warner Bros. Japan revealed that it is "considering what action to take" after the comedian's recent arrest and subsequent release for driving under the influence earlier this month.

UVERworld (Blue Exorcist, The Heroic Legend of Arslan) is performing the film's theme song "DECIDED."

Sorachi began the manga in 2004 and it continues to be ranked among the top-selling manga in Japan. The manga has more than 50 million copies in print in Japan. Shueisha published the manga's 68th volume in Japan on April 4. The manga entered its final arc last July.

The manga inspired a television anime that premiered in 2006 and continued (with several extended hiatuses) until 2013. The fifth and latest Gintama television anime series premiered on January 8, and the show began airing reruns in April. The manga also inspired two anime films, including the "final" Gekijōban Gintama Kanketsu-hen: Yorozuya yo Eien Nare film that opened in 2013, and various OVAs and event anime.