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GKIDS Licenses Lupin III THE FIRST CG Anime Film
posted on by Alex Mateo
GKIDS announced on Thursday that it has licensed Lupin III THE FIRST, the first 3D CG feature-length anime film in Monkey Punch's Lupin III franchise. The film will open in North America in 2020 with English subtitles and an English dub.
The film opened in Japan on December 6. The film sold 220,000 tickets and earned 307,395,900 yen (about US$2.82 million) on its first three days to rank #2 in its opening weekend. The film has earned a cumulative total of 1 billion yen (about US$9.22 million) as of January 5.
Takashi Yamazaki (Stand By Me Doraemon, Dragon Quest Your Story) directed and wrote the film. The film's story centers on Lupin teaming up with a woman named Leticia to steal the Bresson Diary, a treasure that even the first generation Arsène Lupin could not steal.
Lupin III creator Monkey Punch passed away in April 2019, but the film's website posted an October 2018 message in which he had expressed his excitement over imagining how this fresh take on his character would turn out.
Lupin the Third: Part 5 is the most recent television anime in the franchise. The anime premiered in NTV's AnichU programming block in Japan in April 2018. Crunchyroll streamed the series in Japanese with English subtitles as it aired in Japan. TMS Entertainment USA offered the series' first 12 episodes for digital purchase in the U.S. on iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon Digital in November 2018. Adult Swim's Toonami block began airing the anime in June 2019.
Source: Press release
