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Live-Action Kingdom Film Gets Sequel

The official website for the live-action film of Yasuhisa Hara's Kingdom manga announced on Friday that the film will have a sequel. Shinsuke Satō (live-action Gantz, Death Note Light up the NEW world, Bleach) will return as director. Kento Yamazaki, Ryō Yoshizawa, and Kanna Hashimoto are all returning from the previous film as their characters Shin (Xin), Ei Sei (Yin Zheng), and Ka Ryō Ten (He Liao Diao). Hara drew an illustration (seen below) to celebrate the sequel film's announcement.

The first film opened in Japan in April 2019 and sold 506,861 tickets to earn 690,219,500 yen (about US$6.17 million) in its first three days. The film later sold a total of 4.11 million tickets for 5,471,938,400 yen (about US$50.42 million), and eventually earned a cumulative total of 5.73 billion yen (about US$53.2 million). Funimation screened the film at Anime Expo last July, and began screening the film in theaters in the United States and Canada last August.

Hara's historical manga began with the slave boy Xin and his dream of becoming a great general for the state of Qin. Xin helps Ying Zheng, the young Qin king who shares his desire to unify China, rise to power within the state. Xin does all he can to become a superior commander of an army capable of defeating the Seven Warring States.

The record-setting manga launched in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump magazine in 2006. Shueisha published the 57th compiled book volume in Japan on March 19. Hara said he is considering writing up to 100 volumes. A television anime adaptation premiered in 2012, and a second season premiered in 2013. Funimation streamed the series in North America and released both anime on DVD in 2016.

The anime's third season premiered on NHK General on April 5. Funimation has been streaming the anime as it airs in Japan. The anime is delaying the broadcast of episode 5 and later episodes since the government's state of emergency declaration against the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) greatly impacted the production schedule.

Sources: Kingdom live-action film's website, Comic Natalie