Afro Samurai

[6souls]

Press Release:

The Indomina Group and Jackson To Produce Feature Film Adaptation

Los Angeles, CA – July 21, 2011 – It was announced today that The Indomina Group, the fast-growing U.S. and Dominican Republic based producer and distributor of film, TV and trans-media content, is teaming with Samuel L. Jackson and Gonzo Studios to produce a new live action film based on the popular “Afro Samurai” animated series that has spawned an impressive franchise and a global following. The announcement was made by Indomina Group Vice Chairman and CEO Jasbinder Singh Mann who will serve as producer with Samuel L. Jackson and Gonzo Studios’ Shin Ishikawa. Eli Selden of Anonymous Content is executive producing.

Academy Award® nominee Samuel L. Jackson has been close to the franchise for a number of years having voiced Afro Samurai for the 2007 anime TV mini-series “Afro Samurai” and again for the 2009 Emmy® winning animated TV movie “Afro Samurai: Resurrection.”

Said Jackson, “This has been one of my very favorite properties ever since our amazing debut at Comic Con with the original series pilot out of Japan. I can't wait to produce the epic feature film version with our new partners at The Indomina Group.”

“When Indomina was launched, ‘Afro Samurai’ was quickly identified as the perfect property for us to option and exploit through our vertical channels targeted to a fanboy audience,” said Singh Mann. “We never took our eyes off the property and are very pleased to not only have the opportunity now to make an extraordinary film, but to do it with Samuel L. Jackson, who is just as passionate about ‘Afro Samurai’ as we are. This is a perfect collaboration in the eyes of Indomina. We look forward to going to work with Sam and Gonzo on this and making something discernibly unique.”

Producers plan to attach a writer and director this summer and complete casting by the end of the year. The film will be shot at Pinewood Indomina Studios in the Dominican Republic in 2012.

Indomina optioned the rights to “Afro Samurai” from Japanese rights holder Gonzo and will make “Afro Samurai” the first feature film production from The Indomina Group, which over the last six months has debuted its North American distribution arm (Indomina Releasing), international sales division (Indomina International) and Studio operations and facilities (Pinewood Indomina Studios).

Stacey Smart Stanley is overseeing the project’s development for Indomina while Chris Carlisle will be point person for Gonzo.

About Afro Samurai

Afro Samurai (アフロサムライ,) is a Japanese seinen dōjinshi manga series written and illustrated by manga artist Takashi Okazaki. It was originally serialized irregularly in the avant-garde dōjinshi manga magazine Nou Nou Hau from September 1999 to May 2000. Inspired by Takashi Okazaki's love of soul and hip hop music and American media, Afro Samurai follows the life of Afro Samurai who witnessed his father (owner of the No. 1 headband) being killed by the hands of a gunslinger named Justice (owner of the No. 2 headband) while he was a child. As an adult, Afro sets off to avenge his father's death and kill Justice.

The Afro Samurai dōjinshi was adapted into a 5-episode anime TV series by Studio Gonzo in 2007. The same studio also went on to produce a made-for-TV movie sequel entitled Afro Samurai: Resurrection in 2009, which gained two Emmy nominations, for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation, which it won, and Outstanding Animated Program. After the release of the anime series, Takashi Okazaki remade the original Afro Samurai dōjinshi into a two-volume manga.

In addition to the success of the anime series, Afro Samurai has also been adapted into a video game. For the TV series and the film, two soundtracks by the RZA of Wu-Tang Clan have been released as well as a profile book in Japan.

For more information please visit the official movie website AfroSamuraiTheMovie.com

About Indomina:

The Indomina Group is a vertically integrated independent studio launched in 2008 by Vice Chairman and CEO Jasbinder Singh Mann.

Operating in Los Angeles and the Dominican Republic, Indomina takes a transmedia approach to collaborating with content creators around the world to bring innovative entertainment properties to the market.

The company’s global operations include the production and distribution of motion pictures, television, music, interactive games, and the ownership of world-class studio facilities and production services.

Earlier this year, Indomina Releasing, the North American distribution division of the The Indomina Group, inked an exclusive multi-year distribution deal with Vivendi Entertainment that spans home video, digital, internet, television, VOD and mobile platforms and reinforces Indomina’s strategy to establish a leadership position in the independent film market, focusing on genre based content and creating a destination for young, dedicated consumers of the fanboy culture.

The company most recently released Yuen Woo Ping’s martial arts feature "True Legend," starring Vincent Zhao, Zhou Xun, Michelle Yeoh and the late David Carradine. Indomina’s next release will be the quirky romantic comedy “Griff the Invisible,” starring Ryan Kwanten, which opens in select markets on August 19, 2011.

The Indomina Group has also partnered with world-renowned Pinewood Studios Group, to build, operate, manage and market a new state-of-the-art film and television studio facility in the Dominican Republic. “Pinewood Indomina Studios” will be a full-service, world-class production facility for film, TV, and other related media content.

For more information please visit www.indomina.com

About GONZO K.K.

GONZO KK is a globally-focused Japanese media company founded in February 2000. The group produces cutting-edge entertainment for teens and young adults through the renowned GONZO animation brand, while children and family content is produced under the Gonzo Films and Gonzino brands. GONZO K.K. is a world leader in content developed for both domestic Japanese and international audiences, effectively leveraging Japan's trend-setting animation culture and the internationally recognized GONZO brand. Usually, GONZO controls licensing and international distribution for the content it produces. GONZO group companies include Future Vision Music K.K. and GONZINO K.K.

[Rulke]

Loved the first series. Upon reading the synopsis of the second, decided it best not to watch it. Hope this ish turns out good!

[6souls]

I liked the 2nd better than the first to be honest and I liked the video game better than the series. It will be interesting to see what they'll do with the live action.

[6souls]

It was recently announced that Samuel L. Jackson is producing a live-action version of Afro Samurai, which is awesome! There's no doubt that this property has the potential of being an incredibly badass film. The studio developing the project, Indomina Releasing, still has yet to bring on a writer, director and actor to take on the film. I'm sure Jackson would love to take the lead role if he could, but I think he might be a little too old for the character.

I think it would be great to actually see Community and Mystery Team star Donald Glover take on the role of the Afro Samurai. Why the hell not? He could totally pull it off. Our friends at Firstshowing brought up the possibility with Glover in an interview to which Glover replied, "That would be the bomb, man! I would love to do that." I think there a pretty big fan base that might be interested in seeing him do it as well.

Do you remember when Glover was campaigning for the role of Peter Parker in the new Spider-Man film? That was a huge push, and it went pretty far, but ultimately Andrew Garfield is the one that ended up getting the role, which is great because he'll be awesome in it. But, Afro Samurai is a completely different beast, and Glover might have a better chance of landing the role if he tried to campaign for it. Glover is a great guy, and I think he has the personality and passion to pull off a role like this, he also has fantastic comedic timing, which is what this character needs. A role like this could also launch his career into a whole new level of awesomeness. He might look a little young, but I think that could be worked around.

I love the idea of Glover taking on the lead role in this film. There's no word on if Glover's reps are actually pursuing it, but if they're not they should. If you want to see Glover take on the role of Afro Samurai and get crazy with the martial arts action, spread the word and let's get #Donald4AfroSamurai trending out on Twitter! Who knows if anything will happen, but it's worth a shot.

http://geektyrant.com/news/2011/7/28...o-samurai.html
https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23Donald4AfroSamurai

[Ragnus]

Not sure if want but skeptically excited.

[Kaisha]

I'm not sure how I feel about a live action take on the series given how a lot of the show was its pacing, its use of colour, and crazy fight scenes.

Granted it would be cool as all hell if they retained the over-the-top blood sprays in it if they did. I can't tell if I'd want this movie to stay true to the source material in both style and approach (think Sin City), or have an adapatation based around the general story and characters and making something more appropriate for live-action shootings.


On the subject of Afro, how was that Ressurection season thing? I only own the original on DvD and quite enjoyed it despite some of its flaws.