Monday, February 16, 2015

"American Sniper" Now Third Highest Grossing Movie Released in 2014

“American Sniper” Surpasses Past $300 Million at the Domestic Box Office

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ Oscar-nominated blockbuster “American Sniper” continues to make cinema history, crossing $300 million at the domestic box office today. The announcement was made today by Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

    “American Sniper is also showing strength overseas. With just 40% of international markets launched to date, the film has grossed an impressive $85.7 million, with many major territories prepping to release next week, including France, Spain, Japan, Brazil and Mexico.”

Directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller, “American Sniper” has continued to fill conventional and IMAX theatres nationwide. It is now the top-grossing war movie of all time, Bradley Cooper’s biggest live-action feature ever, and the second-highest-grossing R-rated drama ever. In addition, it is the first Warner Bros. non-franchise film, only the seventh Warner Bros. release of any kind, and one of only 50 films in cinema history to achieve this milestone domestically.

In making the announcement, Fellman stated, “This is another extraordinary benchmark for an extraordinary film. Rarely does a film come along that strikes such an emotional and thought-provoking chord with such a wide audience. Congratulations to Clint Eastwood and everyone involved in ‘American Sniper’ on the film’s huge success, both at the box office and in the hearts and minds of people everywhere.”

“American Sniper is also showing strength overseas. With just 40% of international markets launched to date, the film has grossed an impressive $85.7 million, with many major territories prepping to release next week, including France, Spain, Japan, Brazil and Mexico.

Eastwood directed “American Sniper” from a screenplay written by Jason Hall, based on the book by Chris Kyle, with Jim DeFelice and Scott McEwen. Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller star in the film, produced by Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Cooper and Peter Morgan. Tim Moore, Jason Hall, Sheroum Kim, Steven Mnuchin and Bruce Berman served as executive producers.

“American Sniper” has earned six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Cooper), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Jason Hall). In addition, Eastwood was honored by his peers with his fourth Directors Guild of America Award nomination and also won the National Board of Review Award for Best Director. The film’s other honors include a Producers Guild of America Award nomination, a Writers Guild of America Award nomination, and a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents in Association with Village Roadshow Pictures, A Mad Chance Production, A 22nd & Indiana Production, “American Sniper.” The film is being distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures. “American Sniper” has been rated R for strong and disturbing war violence and language throughout, including some sexual references. americansnipermovie.com

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Sunday, February 15, 2015

"The Grand Budapest Hotel," "The Imitation Game" Lead 2015 Writers Guild Awards

The Writers Guild of America is a labor union representing film, television, radio, video game, and new media writers.  The Writers Guild of America Award acknowledges outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio and has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949.

The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) announced the 2015 Writers Guild Awards on Saturday, February 14, 2015, at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles (Hyatt Regency Century Plaza) and New York City (Edison Ballroom).  Winners were announced in categories for outstanding achievement in writing for film, television, new media, videogames, news, radio, promotional, and graphic animation categories.

2015 Writers Guild Awards winners:

FILM WINNERS:

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness; Fox Searchlight

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Imitation Game, Written by Graham Moore; Based on the book Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges; The Weinstein Company

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, Written by Brian Knappenberger; FilmBuff


TELEVISION AND NEW MEDIA WINNERS:

DRAMA SERIES
True Detective, Written by Nic Pizzolatto; HBO

COMEDY SERIES
Louie, Written by Pamela Adlon, Louis C.K.; FX

NEW SERIES
True Detective, Written by Nic Pizzolatto; HBO

EPISODIC DRAMA
"The Last Call" (The Good Wife), Written by Robert King & Michelle King; CBS

EPISODIC COMEDY
"So Did the Fat Lady" (Louie), Written by Louis C.K.; FX

LONG FORM – ORIGINAL
Deliverance Creek, Written by Melissa Carter; Lifetime

LONG FORM – ADAPTED
Olive Kitteridge, Teleplay by Jane Anderson, Based on the novel by Elizabeth Strout; HBO

SHORT FORM NEW MEDIA – ORIGINAL
"Episode 113: Rachel" (High Maintenance), Written by Katja Blichfeld & Ben Sinclair; helpingyoumaintain.com

ANIMATION
"Brick Like Me" (The Simpsons), Written by Brian Kelley; Fox

COMEDY / VARIETY (INCLUDING TALK) – SERIES
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Writers: Kevin Avery, Tim Carvell, Dan Gurewitch, Geoff Haggerty, Jeff Maurer, John Oliver, Scott Sherman, Will Tracy, Jill Twiss, Juli Weiner; HBO

COMEDY / VARIETY – MUSIC, AWARDS, TRIBUTES – SPECIALS
71st Annual Golden Globe Awards, Written by Barry Adelman; Special Material by Alex Baze, Dave Boone, Robert Carlock, Tina Fey, Jon Macks, Sam Means, Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, Mike Shoemaker; NBC

QUIZ AND AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Hollywood Game Night, Head Writer: Grant Taylor; Writers: Alex Chauvin, Ann Slichter; NBC

DAYTIME DRAMA
General Hospital, Written by Ron Carlivati, Anna Theresa Cascio, Suzanne Flynn, Kate Hall, Elizabeth Korte, Daniel James O’Connor, Elizabeth Page, Katherine Schock, Scott Sickles, Chris Van Etten; ABC

CHILDREN'S SCRIPT – EPISODIC & SPECIALS
"Haunted Heartthrob" (Haunted Hathaways), Written by Bob Smiley; Nickelodeon

DOCUMENTARY SCRIPT – CURRENT EVENTS
"United States of Secrets: The Program (Part One)" (Frontline); PBS; Written by Michael Kirk & Mike Wiser; PBS

DOCUMENTARY SCRIPT – OTHER THAN CURRENT EVENTS
"League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis" (Frontline), Written by Michael Kirk & Mike Wiser; PBS

NEWS – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT
"Nelson Mandela: A Man Who Changed the World" (World News with Diane Sawyer), Written by Dave Bloch, Lisa Ferri, Diane Sawyer; ABC News

TV NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY
"Nowhere to Go" (60 Minutes), Written by Oriana Zill de Granados, Scott Pelley, Michael Rey; CBS


RADIO WINNERS:

DOCUMENTARY
"Three Shots Rang Out: The JFK Assassination 50 Years Later," Written by Darren Reynolds; ABC News Radio

NEWS – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT
"World News This Week," Written by Andrew Evans; ABC News Radio

NEWS – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY
"Civil Rights at 50," Written by Jane Tillman Irving; WCBS Radio


PROMOTIONAL WRITING WINNERS:

ON-AIR PROMOTION (TELEVISION, NEW MEDIA OR RADIO)
"How I Met Your Mother" Written by Dan Greenberger; CBS


VIDEOGAME WINNER:

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN VIDEOGAME WRITING
The Last of Us: Left Behind, Written by Neil Druckmann; Sony Computer Entertainment

**Note: There were no nominees in Children's Script – Long Form or Special or Television Graphic Art and Animation categories this year.
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Saturday, February 14, 2015

Jennifer Hudson to Sing at 87th Oscars

Oscar® Winner Jennifer Hudson To Perform At 87th Oscars®

Oscar and Grammy-winning singer and actress Jennifer Hudson will be performing on the 87th Oscars, show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced today. The Oscars, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, will air on Sunday, February 22, 2015 live on ABC.

"We're creating several musical sequences for the Oscars and we couldn't be happier that our friend, Jennifer Hudson, will be performing in one of them," says Zadan and Meron.

Hudson won the Oscar for Actress in a Supporting Role for the 2006 film “Dreamgirls.” Her other acting credits include “Sex and the City” (2008), “The Secret Life of Bees” (2008), “Winnie Mandela” (2013) and “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete” (2013). Hudson’s self-titled debut album won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album and was certified Gold, as was her second album, “I Remember Me.” This year she was nominated for Best R&B Performance for the song “It’s Your World,” from her 2014 album, “JHUD.”

The 87th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscars, produced by Zadan and Meron, also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

Amazon Studio's "Bosch" Now Available on Prime Instant Video

Amazon’s First Original Hour-Long Drama Series Bosch is Now Available Exclusively to Prime Members in the US, UK and Germany

Based on Michael Connelly’s best-selling books with nearly 50 million copies sold, all ten episodes are now available

Bosch stars Titus Welliver (Lost, The Good Wife), Jamie Hector (The Wire), Amy Aquino (Being Human), Lance Reddick (Fringe, The Wire) and Annie Wersching (24, Extant), with Sarah Clarke (24) and Jason Gedrick (Luck), and is Executive Produced by Connelly, Eric Overmyer (The Wire, Treme), and Henrik Bastin of Fabrik Entertainment (The Killing, Burn Notice), a Red Arrow Entertainment Group company

Series guest stars include Scott Wilson (The Walking Dead), Troy Evans (ER), Veronica Cartwright (Resurrection), Abraham Benrubi (The Bridge), Mark Derwin (The Secret Life of the American Teenager), Mimi Rogers (Austin Powers), and Alan Rosenberg (The Guardian)
February 13, 2015 09:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon today announced all ten episodes of its first hour-long drama series Bosch are now available exclusively on Prime Instant Video in the US, UK and Germany. Based on Michael Connelly’s internationally best-selling Harry Bosch book series with nearly 50 million copies sold, Bosch stars Titus Welliver (Lost, The Good Wife) as Harry Bosch, Jamie Hector (The Wire) as Jerry Edgar, Amy Aquino (Being Human) as Lt. Grace Billets, Lance Reddick (Fringe, The Wire) as Deputy Chief Irvin Irving, and Annie Wersching (24, Extant) as Julia Brasher, with Sarah Clarke (24) as Eleanor Wish and Jason Gedrick (Luck) as Raynard Waits.

The series follows the relentless LAPD homicide detective as he pursues the killer of a 13-year-old boy while standing trial in federal court on accusations that he murdered a suspected killer in cold blood. Guest stars on Bosch include Scott Wilson (The Walking Dead) as Dr. Guyot and Troy Evans (ER) as Detective Johnson, and was developed for television by Eric Overmyer (Treme, The Wire, Homicide: Life on the Streets) and Executive Produced by Overmyer, Connelly, and Henrik Bastin (The Killing, Burn Notice).

    “It’s finally time to see Harry Bosch on screen”

Prime members can now watch all ten episodes of Bosch as often as they would like from the Amazon Instant Video app for TVs, connected devices and mobile devices, or online at Amazon.com/boschtv, at no additional cost to their membership. Customers who are not already a Prime member can sign up for a free trial at www.amazon.com/prime.

Primarily based on elements from Connelly’s books City of Bones (2002), The Concrete Blonde (1994) and Echo Park (2006), Harry Bosch’s investigation takes on a life and death urgency when a killer who has confessed to a boy’s murder escapes custody and begins a murderous rampage across Los Angeles. Bosch and the killer are locked in a cat and mouse game, with the killer taunting Bosch as the investigation turns deeply personal. The case unearths Bosch’s buried past as well as entangling his ex-wife and 14-year-old daughter. The season takes the viewer through back streets and neighborhoods of Los Angeles rarely seen on-screen. There have been 19 Harry Bosch novels published since 1992, including 2014’s number-one bestseller The Burning Room.

“We’re delighted to debut the first television adaptation of Michael Connelly’s classic works,” said Roy Price, Vice President, Amazon Studios. “We hope customers enjoy this extraordinary glimpse around Los Angeles with legendary LAPD detective Harry Bosch.”

“It’s finally time to see Harry Bosch on screen,” said Michael Connelly. “I am very excited because I think we’ve got something here in Titus Welliver and this production that will be just what cop show fans and Harry Bosch fans are looking for; a smart and convincing story about a detective who may be haunted but is also undaunted. I have waited about 20 years for this and it was worth the wait to see my books taken to the screen in this no holds barred way."

“The response to Bosch has already been incredible,“ added Henrik Pabst, Managing Director at Red Arrow International. “With its LA-noir look and exceptional performances and cinematography, Bosch is shaping up to be the event crime series of the year."

Other guest stars in Bosch include Veronica Cartwright (Resurrection) as Irene Saxon, Abraham Benrubi (The Bridge) as Rodney Belk, Mark Derwin (The Secret Life of the American Teenager) as Captain Harvey Pounds, Mimi Rogers (Austin Powers) as Honey Chandler, and Alan Rosenberg (The Guardian) as Dr. Golliher. The series is co-Executive Produced by Pieter Jan Brugge (Heat, The Pelican Brief) and Produced by Pat McKee (Longmire) and Rachel Rusch (Bill Maher: The Decider). Episodes were directed by Jim McKay, Kevin Dowling, Ernest Dickerson, Roxann Dawson, Matt Earl Beesley, Alex Zakrzewski and Thomas Carter. Bosch is produced by Fabrik Entertainment in association with Red Arrow International for Amazon Studios.

Here is what the critics are saying:

“Welliver, all confident minimalism, quietly commands your attention with his naturally fierce charisma.” – Jeff Jensen, Entertainment Weekly

“Titus Welliver sensationally nails Harry’s gruff demeanor.” – Matt Roush, TV Guide

“So why is it so darn fun to watch? Because Welliver and other cast members make it credible, first of all, and because of the show’s unlikely nostalgic sensibility: It feels like a detective movie or TV show from another era.” – David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle


About Amazon Studios
Bosch joins other Amazon original series Mozart in the Jungle, from Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, Paul Weitz, John Strauss and Alex Timbers, Jill Soloway’s multi-Golden Globe Award-winning dark comedy Transparent, along with the second season of the Garry Trudeau political comedy Alpha House. The studio has also launched its first live-action series for kids 6-11, Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street and three additional children’s series, the Annecy International Animated Film Festival Award-winning and Annie Award-winning Tumble Leaf from Bix Pix Entertainment; Creative Galaxy from Angela Santomero and Out of the Blue Enterprises, the creators of Blue’s Clues; and Annedroids, from Emmy nominated Sinking Ship Entertainment.

Amazon Studios has also announced three additional, original series to debut in 2015, including Hand of God from Marc Forster and Ben Watkins; Red Oaks from Steven Soderbergh, David Gordon Green, Greg Jacobs and Joe Gangemi; and kids series Wishenpoof! from Angela Santomero and Out of the Blue Enterprises; as well as a second season of Transparent.

In 2015 Amazon Studios will begin to produce and acquire original movies for theatrical release, followed by early window distribution on Prime Instant Video.

Amazon Studios launched in 2010 as a new way to develop feature films and episodic series—one that’s open to great ideas from creators and audiences around the world. Anyone can upload a script online and Amazon Studios will read and review all submissions. Those who choose to make their projects public can also receive feedback from the Amazon Studios community.

About Prime Instant Video
Amazon Prime members have instant access to stream tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes, including award-winning Amazon Original Series, available on Prime Instant Video at no additional cost to their membership. In addition, new release movies like Gone Girl, Boyhood and Birdman along with in-season shows like The Walking Dead, Scandal and Better Call Saul are also available for rent or purchase on Amazon Instant Video for all customers to stream and enjoy.

Customers can watch shows and movies with the Amazon Instant Video app. The Amazon Instant Video app is available on hundreds of devices including connected TVs, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Xbox and PlayStation, as well as on mobile devices like Fire phone, Fire tablets, iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. Customers can also watch online at Amazon.com/PIV. Prime Instant Video is also the only U.S. online-only subscription streaming service that enables offline viewing—on a plane, on vacation, and anywhere else where you may not have Wi-Fi.

Amazon Prime members have exclusive access to popular TV series at no additional cost to their membership. Prime members can enjoy binge-worthy TV shows including Amazon Original Series’ airing now such as multi-Golden Globe winning series, Transparent, the hour-long drama, Bosch, based on Michael Connelly’s best-selling books, the Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman comedy, Mozart in the Jungle and the political comedy starring John Goodman, Alpha House, in addition to HBO favorites like The Sopranos, True Blood and Six Feet Under, and popular primetime series including 24, Covert Affairs, Downtown Abbey, Extant, Falling Skies, Grimm, Hannibal, Justified, Orphan Black, Teen Wolf, The Americans, Under the Dome and Veronica Mars. Prime members also have access to an exclusive collection of kids shows now airing including Amazon Original Series’ Annedroids, Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street and Tumble Leaf, as well as popular shows from Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. including SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Team Umizoomi, Blue’s Clues and The Bubble Guppies.

Comprehensive cast and crew information, including bios and filmographies, is available on Amazon's IMDb (www.imdb.com), the world’s most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content.

About Amazon
Amazon.com opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995. The company is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire phone, Fire tablets, and Fire TV are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon.

About Red Arrow International
Red Arrow International is a world-leading TV distributor of scripted, factual and formatted shows from Red Arrow’s global group of production companies, outstanding third-party producers and digital-content partners.

Red Arrow International is a major co-producer of global entertainment, providing substantial production financing for scripted and non-scripted projects. Recent international highlights include: “Bosch” (Amazon), “Lilyhammer” (Netflix); “Married at First Sight” (FYI); and “The Taste” (ABC).

With offices in Munich, Los Angeles and Hong Kong, Red Arrow International has a truly global reach and distributes acclaimed, quality content to over 200 territories worldwide.

Led by Henrik Pabst, Red Arrow International is part of Red Arrow Entertainment Group, made up of 13 production companies across 7 countries; the Los Angeles based MCN, Collective Digital Studios; and creative partnerships and joint ventures with STV, Screenz, Sync Media and United Artists Media Group (Mark Burnett / Hearst).

Red Arrow Entertainment Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, one of Europe’s leading media groups.

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Negromancer News Bits and Bites for the Week of February 8th to 14th, 2015 - Update #12


NEWS:

From GoldDerby:  The Oscar horse race.

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From Variety:  HBO will launch an online only service later this year.

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From Variety:  The #1 movie at the box office for the weekend of Feb. 6th to 8th, 2015 is The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water with an estimated take of $56 million.


COMICS:

From WallStCheatSheet:  TNT's "Teen Titans" will feature a mostly female line-up.

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From TheVillageVoice:  A review of Kingsman.

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From YahooMovies:  A reminder from Samuel L. Jackson, he only has two movies left on his Marvel contract.

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From TheHollywoodReporter:  There will be a new Spider-Man, a new Spider-Man film (2017), and the new Spider-Man in a Marvel Studios film.

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From TheVerge:  More on the Spider-Man/Marvel/Sony news.


STAR WARS:

From YahooTV:  Billy Dee Williams coy about Lando's return.


TRAILERS:

20th Century Fox and MGM have remade the 1982 horror-thriller classic, Poltergeist, and it's coming.  Here is the trailer on YouTube.

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20th Century Fox has a trailer for Hitman: Agent 47 on YouTube.

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20th Century Fox has a new Nicholas Sparks movie, The Longest Ride, and the trailer is on YouTube.


MISC:

From YahooSports:  A four-year-old Tom Brady at "the Catch" game - Cowboys vs. 49ers.

Anna Kendrick to Sing (Maybe Something from "Into the Woods") at 87th Oscars


Anna Kendrick To Perform At 87th Oscars®

Actress and singer Anna Kendrick will make a special appearance at the 87th Oscars, show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced today. The Oscars, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, will air on Sunday, February 22, 2015 live on ABC.

"Out of the woods and on to the Oscar stage, Anna will be performing something special that is sure to be an "Only on the Oscars" moment." says Zadan and Meron.

Kendrick was nominated for an Oscar® for her supporting role in the 2009 film “Up in the Air.” Her other film credits include “Into the Woods” (2014), “Pitch Perfect” (2012) and the “Twilight” film series. In 1998, at the age of 12, Kendrick was nominated for a Tony Award® for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for “High Society.” She will star in the films "The Last Five Years," "The Hollars,” and “Pitch Perfect 2” later this year.

The 87th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscars, produced by Zadan and Meron, also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

Friday, February 13, 2015

VIZ Media Announces Film Development on "The Street of Fruiting Bodies"

VIZ PRODUCTIONS DEVELOPING FEATURE FILM BASED ON AUTHOR SAYURI UEDA’S SHORT STORY THE STREET OF FRUITING BODIES

BATMAN Screenwriter Sam Hamm To Develop Script About An Infestation Of Deadly Hallucinogenic Spores

VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, has announced that its Los Angeles-based film development division, VIZ Productions, is developing the haunting short story, “The Street of Fruiting Bodies,” by famed Japanese author Sayuri Ueda into a feature film, and has retained Batman screenwriter Sam Hamm to write the adaptation.

“The Street of Fruiting Bodies” depicts the sudden spread of a mysterious and lethal species of hallucinogenic mushroom. The infestation is deadly, but it also offers visions of deceased loved ones to the infected, hinting at the reality of an afterlife, or at least a new kind of existence that is beyond human comprehension. Ueda’s story appeared in the anthology, PHANTASM JAPAN, which collected works by several bestselling authors from both the United States and Japan and was published in English in 2014 by VIZ Media’s Haikasoru literary imprint. More information on the book is available at: http://www.haikasoru.com/phantasm-japan.

Jason Hoffs, Head of Production at VIZ Productions, says the story is well suited for feature film adaptation. “Sayuri Ueda turns the ‘killer virus’ concept on its head with an agent that strikes at our emotions rather than our bodies. We hope to marry the pace of a riveting popcorn movie with a compelling meditation on life-after-death, love and memory, and God."

Screenwriter Sam Hamm is best known for his script for the 1989 Tim Burton film, Batman, and also adapted short fiction for Showtime’s "Masters of Horror" series. He says of the new project, “Ueda creates a world in which the most profound human emotions – love, grief, longing, and hope – can lead to one's salvation or one's undoing, and the true horror is that it may be impossible to tell the difference. ‘The Street of Fruiting Bodies’ is not only disturbing, it is moving.”

VIZ Productions coordinates the licensing of Japanese entertainment media (manga, books and film) to North American-based film studios. The company’s most recent project was 2014’s sci-fi action feature, Edge of Tomorrow, which was co-produced by Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures and starred Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt and Bill Paxton. The film was based on the novel, ALL YOU NEED IS KILL, written by Hiroshi Sakurazaka and available in English from VIZ Media’s Haikasoru imprint.  VIZ Productions is also currently developing a feature film adaptation of the hit manga property DEATH NOTE.

For more information on anime, manga and film titles published and distributed by VIZ Media, please visit www.VIZ.com.

About VIZ Media, LLC
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, VIZ Media distributes, markets and licenses the best anime and manga titles direct from Japan.  Owned by three of Japan's largest manga and animation companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media has the most extensive library of anime and manga for English speaking audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa. With its popular digital manga anthology WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, BLEACH and ONE PIECE, VIZ Media offers cutting-edge action, romance and family friendly properties for anime, manga, science fiction and fantasy fans of all ages.  VIZ Media properties are available as graphic novels, DVDs, animated television series, feature films, downloadable and streaming video and a variety of consumer products.  Learn more about VIZ Media, anime and manga at www.VIZ.com.

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