Last month it was announced that Kinji Fukasaku’s seminal horror/survival flick ‘Battle Royale’ (AKA ‘Batoru rowaiaru’) was getting the 3D treatment and prepping itself for a re-release into theatres this month across Japan. And the hunger for the ragtag bunch of school kids pitted against each other on the bloody island is still a keen experience for US movie fans too as Anchor Bay have just acquired the North American distribution rights to ‘Battle Royale 3D’ and the sequel. It starred Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tarô Yamamoto, Chiaki Kuriyama, Sosuke Takaoka, Takashi Tsukamoto, Yukihiro Kotani, Eri Ishikawa, Sayaka Kamiya and Aki Inoue. No word on whether it’ll get a theatrical release stateside as yet.
“In a future where society is on the verge of collapse, the government takes drastic action against the problem of rebellious teenagers. Japan’s economy has taken a dramatic turn for the worse, and massive unemployment and inflation have thrown most adults into a state of chaos; the nation’s youth culture responds with unprecedented violence, delinquency, and truancy. Desperate to restore order, the Japanese parliament responds by creating the Millennial Reform School Act, in which groups of junior-high students are selected at random, sent to an isolated island, and forced to play a rigorous war game in which all but one of their number are killed. Kitano (Beat Takeshi) is an embittered school instructor who guides the 44 students of the Zentsuji Middle School’s Class B through the deadly game known as ‘Battle Royale’, as they struggle to survive against the elements and each other in a violent battle to the death.”
The new 3D version of ‘Battle Royale’ will be released in some form or another across the US early next year.
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