#Netflix Develops CG-Animated Ultraman Film With Tsuburaya Productions

Tsuburaya Productions announced that it will work with Netflix to produce a full-length CG-Animated Ultraman feature film. Variety reported that the film will have a new storyline that is “designed to honor past mythology while introducing the character to a new potential global fanbase.”

Shannon Tindle (The Croods, Kubo and the Two Strings animator) will be debuting as a director on the film, with John Aoshima (Gravity Falls) serving as co-director. Tindle will also be working on the script with Marc Haimes (Men in Black II, Kubo and the Two Strings). Tom Knott (Coraline, The Iron Giant) has been named as producer while Lisa Poole is named as co-producer. Tsuburaya Productions will be producing the film with American visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic.

Tindle said, “Making this film is a dream come true. What began as an original story inspired by my love for Eiji Tsuburaya’s Ultraman somehow became an actual Ultraman film thanks to the incredible trust of the team at Tsuburaya Productions, and the support of the folks at Netflix Animation. We’ve assembled an all-star team and I can’t wait to share our unique take on Ultraman with the rest of the world.”

Takayuki Tsukagoshi, the CEO and Chairman of Tsuburaya Productions, called the film the “first full-scale endeavor to reach the global market for Tsuburaya Productions.” 

Ultraman was created 55 years ago by Eiji Tsuburaya, the founder of Tsuburaya Productions. The franchise has since spawned several TV series and films such as Ultraseven (1967), The Return of Ultraman (1971), Ultraman Max (2005), and ULTRAMAN (2004). A crossover with Toei’s Kamen Rider franchise resulted in a co-production titled Ultraman vs. Kamen Rider (1993). Netflix and Tsuburaya Productions also worked together previously on the Ultraman anime series, which teased its second season in July 2020. There are currently 26 Ultraman heroes listed on Tsuburaya Productions’s website from past to present. 

Tsuburaya Productions describes the film as:

Baseball superstar Ken Sato returns to his home country of Japan to pick up the mantle of Earth-defending superhero Ultraman, but quickly finds more than he bargained for when he’s forced to raise the offspring of his greatest foe, a newborn Kaiju. Struggling to balance the roles of teammate and new father, Ken must confront his own ego, his estranged father, and the conniving Kaiju Defense Force to rise up and discover what it truly means to be Ultraman.

Source: Tsuburaya Productions Twitter and website