"Space Battleship Yamato" To Be Shown In Theaters In October

by Armand Vaquer

Eleven Arts has announced that Space Battleship Yamato (2010) will have a limited theatrical engagement starting in October. The movie will begin playing in Los Angeles and will make its way around the country in selected theaters.

 I saw Space Battleship Yamato in December 2010 at the Toho Cinemas Nichigeki Theaters in the Yurakucho Mullion Building in Tokyo and have a subtitled copy on DVD.

Above, "Space Battleship Yamato" poster at the Yurakucho 
 Mullion Building in Tokyo.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

About Eleven Arts:

ELEVEN ARTS, Inc. is a company dedicated to the sales and distribution of high quality films. Specializing in Japanese and Asian films, we serve as a bridge connecting films to audiences around the world. ELEVEN ARTS is expanding into the field of production, a move that will allow us to be more active in the pursuit of our goal of bringing great films to our audiences. We are based in Los Angeles.

If you haven't seen Space Battleship Yamato on the big screen, you're in for a treat!

For more, go here.

"Space Battleship Yamato" In New York

by Armand Vaquer

During my December 2010 trip to Japan,  I was able to see Space Battleship Yamato in Tokyo at the Toho Cinemas Nichigeki in the Yurakucho Mullion Building (above photo).

You won't have to travel that far next month as it will be the closing feature at the Japan Society's Japan Cuts 2012 Film Festival on July 28 at 9:00 PM in New York.

The landmark 1974 animated series Space Battleship Yamato finally gets
a live-action treatment from director Takashi Yamazaki! In the year 2199, earth
has become a wasteland after five years of radiation attacks from an unseen
alien enemy called the Gamilons. One of the survivors is Kodai Susumu (Kimura
Takuya), who picks up a mysterious device one day while hunting for scrap metal.
After discovering a map to a planet inside the device, the military sends out
its last battleship--the Yamato-- in the hopes that it'll be the key to
save humanity. Kodai joins the Yamato crew and quickly proves to be a worthy
team member. With only a year left before the end of earth, what will the Yamato
crew find at the end of their long and perilous journey? One of the
highest-grossing Japanese films of all time, Space Battleship Yamato is
a sci-fi spectacular for audiences of all ages. 

Japan. 2010. 137 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Takashi Yamazaki.  With Takuya Kimura, Meisa Kuroki, Toshiro Yanagiba.

For ticket information, go here.

Toho Nichigeki Theater

by Armand Vaquer

Above, the original Toho Nichigeki Theater circa 1961. Note the movie marquee on the right and what movie is playing there. (Kudos to John "Dutch" DeSentis for finding this shot!) The Yurakucho Mullion Building (featured in "Return of Godzilla" (1984)) now occupies this site.

In 1954, Godzilla rampaged through Tokyo, including the exclusive shopping district of Ginza.

Oooh, it tickles!

There is a scene in the movie where Godzilla steps on some train tracks. The electrical current courses through his body, causing his tail to wildly whip about until it hits a birthday cake-shaped building. This building was Toho's Nichigeki Theater.

Above, Godzilla approaches the Nichigeki Theater (left).

Above, as Godzilla steps on the train tracks, his tail whips about as the electricity from the tracks course through his body. The Nichigeki Theater is in the background.

Above, the Nichigeki Theater is smashed by Godzilla's tail.

The scene was intended as an "inside joke" for the patrons screening Godzilla (1954) in the very theater that gets smashed in the movie.

The Site Today

Today, the Nichigeki Theater has been replaced by the Yurakucho Mullion Building. There is a Toho Nichigeki Theater inside the the complex, but the current Nichigeki Theater is a multi-screen theater similar to what is found in shopping malls in the U.S. I saw Space Battleship Yamato at the Nichigeki last December.

Also within the complex, is the Picadilly Theaters where Gamera The Brave (2006) was premiered.

Above, the Yurakucho Mullion Building today. The Toho Cinemas Nichigeki multi-plex is housed within.

For more on the Yurakucho Mullion Building and how to get there to see it, see page 28 of The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan.