Ultraman’s global plans just keep getting bigger and bigger, appropriately.
Tsuburaya Productions has announced that it is teaming with Netflix and Industrial Light and Magic to create an entirely original Ultraman animated movie at Netflix, separate from the streaming service’s current anime series. Directed by Shannon Tindle and John Aoshima, the movie follows a young baseball superstar, Ken Sato, who returns to Japan to inherit the powers of the Ultra Warriors and become the next Ultraman.
However, Ken’s plans to be an anti-kaiju superhero go awry when he finds himself raising the monstrous offspring of one of Ultraman’s deadliest foes, forcing him to balance his life as a size-changing superhero with the Kaiju Defence Force and as an unlikely father.
It’s the latest announcement in what’s suitably a supersized year for Japan’s most iconic giant hero, who’s celebrating his 55th anniversary. Alongside the latest entry in the Tokusatstu TV series, Ultraman Trigger, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Shin Godzilla co-director Hideaki Anno’s Shin Ultraman movie is set to debut in Japan later this year.
We’ll bring you more on Netflix’s bumper-sized plans for Ultraman as and when we learn them.