Cool News
At Last... BATTLE ROYALE Comes To The United States!
Nordling here.
I remember jonesing to see BATTLE ROYALE way back in 2000 when I first heard about it here at AICN. Since then it's been released all over the world, but we here in the States have had to make do with bootleg releases and knowing that we'd probably never get to see it on the big screen except for maybe some small release in repertory theaters. Then 9/11 happened, and that pretty much put the quietus on any kind of release here in the United States. Until now.
Anchor Bay Entertainment will be releasing BATTLE ROYALE on Blu-Ray and DVD in March, finally in the United States, and I want to own this movie and show it to unsuspecting people in the worst way. It's likely you've seen the film already, but I'm very happy that we'll be getting some kind of official release here. Anchor Bay has done good with titles like this one, and I hope that the Blu-Ray is nice and pristine. I've only seen the film a couple of times myself, so I'm very keen on revisiting it. Here's the official trailer for the release:
Hopefully we'll get some kind of limited theatrical release, but for those of you who still haven't had the opportunity to see this classic, your long wait will soon be over.
Nordling, out.
Readers Talkback
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Was this not on Netflix or some similar service? I've seen that movie before but I don't remember from where other than I didn't go out of my way to watch it...
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I've been hearing so much about how awesome this movie was supposed to be. WAY overrated.
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Jan. 12, 2012, 7:54 p.m. CST
I love Asian films but this movie is so hyped, nothing special
by strykebr
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As I was saying, this movie sucked. It had potential, but I was very disapointed with the end product. And this isn't me being the CG bashing guy, but just about every squib was CG. All of you should know by now that my least favorite thing about modern filmmaking is CG blood. Especially CG blood in the form of squibs. And I hate it even more when it looks as bad as it did in this movie. I don't know if the director was intentionally going for that anime-esque look or not. Another thing that gets this movie a minus is how vague it is about the setting. They give us a short message in the beginning about how kids boycott schools and the governemnt collapsing and crap like that and then we're into the movie. That would be fine if they acted as if all that had happened. Which they don't. They just acted like normal. I haven't read the book. I have access to it but I haven't dedicated the time to reading it. One day soon I will read it and then watch the movie again. My opinion on the movie will probably change but until then the movie sucks.
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how much you wanna bet there will be a Hollywood remake in the next year or two? Especially if The Hunger Games is a massive hit, then old Tinseltown will be all hot and bothered to remake Battle Royale as a low to moderately budgeted horror franchise for us dumb ass, unable to read subtitles Americans. Probably will be a Lionsgate yearly thing not unlike SAW, with a regularly appearing villain that runs the whole thing, while different actors portray the students each year, as fresh batches are brought in for the slaughter.
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how much you wanna bet there will be a Hollywood remake in the next year or two? Especially if The Hunger Games is a massive hit, then old Tinseltown will be all hot and bothered to remake Battle Royale as a low to moderately budgeted horror franchise for us dumb ass, unable to read subtitles Americans. Probably will be a Lionsgate yearly thing not unlike SAW, with a regularly appearing villain that runs the whole thing, while different actors portray the students each year, as fresh batches are brought in for the slaughter.
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It was Columbine.
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I posted and didn't see anything, so I re-posted thinking that AICN had shit the bed, but in this case it didn't! A miracle.
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Can anyone tell me what the fuck that was all about? It should've just ended with them escaping and that final haunting scene of the kids playing/watching the basketball game at school. And not some meta-physical, metaphoric turd of a "WTF?" when a supposedly dead guy gets up to answer his fucking phone! Sorry! Was that a spoiler? Really, I only saved you the disappointment of seeing that ridiculousness yourself. The rest of the movie = brilliant! The ending = WTF were they thinking?
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This was one of the first DVDs I imported after getting a region free DVD player (circa 2003, I think) I remember after it ended I couldn't help but think how I fell for the hype. Same thing happened with Ichi The Killer. It was a decent movie, but I feel the concept is better than the movie itself. Either way, I'll be watching the Blu-ray as I would like to see it again. But it's interesting to see that the hype is still rolling.
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Jan. 12, 2012, 8:19 p.m. CST
Actually, this movie could be improved by a U.S. remake if they did it right...
by Zardoz
No, seriously. Don't go low-budget at all: get major young stars to do it and watch them get bumped off one-by-one! It would only be a week's worth of work, tops, for most of the cast that gets killed, anyway. And get some huge star as the teacher/captor, say, Anthony Hopkins, and also a real director. (too bad David Fnncher's going to be busy for a while!) And give it a good ending!
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Went to Netflix to save it to my Queue to get later on this year and it was available to send now. Noticed it was just the DVD but will still watch it in that format.
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I mean it.
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not sure how its related
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The Columbine school shooting in 1999 surely had a much more detrimental effect on the U.S. release of a film about school children killing each other than the 9/11 attacks did.
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Jan. 12, 2012, 8:31 p.m. CST
Lol, good on your Nordling for not mentioning THE HUNGER GAMES once in that article
by zillabeast
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twas Columbine.
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Jan. 12, 2012, 8:39 p.m. CST
RIDLEY SCOTT JUST ANNOUNCED NEST PROJECT IS NATGEO MOVIE OF "KILLING LINCOLN" BY FOX NEWS BILL O'REILLY! FACT!
by The_Maltese_Vulcan
Tis' true. Going to drive liberal Prometheus fans nuts. However not a bad book all things considered. You know, the whole neocon faux news attitude side.
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Talk about unexpected feedback. When Battle Royale came out, I was the first "in my block" to have it. I got it on friggin VCD, a pale so-so image. I must have played it or lent it to 20 people, and ALL loved it. It's a strange semi-masterpiece. I remember watching a thing, and Tarantino put it as his #1 movie since 1991 or whenever Res Dogs came out. I CERTAINLY think THAT position is overhype... However, it's an award winner, and it's better than any version of Lord of the Flies that's been filmed so far. But to trash it? On a Geek site, no less? I guess hype is a funny thing. I know people who have watched Clockwork Orange, or Shaun of the Dead, or whatever after being battered with promised of their brilliance so much, that their responses to those films were neutral, if not negative I'm not going to wax poetic about why this is a four star film ranking easily with those 2 films I listed, or that the Novel is kind of a brilliant read. You have to shift your perspective a bit for a film like this, similarly to..... oh I dunno.... maybe Brick? Both feels are utterly unrealistic... So what? Parts are campy? Good. They are both amazing, in my opinion (and I am not alone AT ALL). fun, strange, satiric fantasies. And Battle Royale has an additional aspect of being powerful symbolically. Dammit.... I coulda just said "screw these guys, BR rocks!!"
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Jan. 12, 2012, 9:06 p.m. CST
I've seen this and love it... but what the hell is "The Hunger Games"?
by ufoclub1977
And is it like this?
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Or maybe it is an A L l E N nest?
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Jan. 12, 2012, 9:15 p.m. CST
I knew when I saw this 12 years ago the best thing about it was Hollywood would never do a remake!
by Brannagins Law
no one who's seen this cares about your hunger games either.
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Jan. 12, 2012, 9:15 p.m. CST
Or does this KILLING LINCOLN thing have something to do with that ABE LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER movie?
by lv_426
How about a president that hunts xenomorphs? IKE: Bug Hunter I'm ready, man, check it out. I am the ultimate badass! State of the badass art! You do NOT wanna fuck with me. Check it out! Hey Ripley, don't worry. Me and my squad of ultimate badasses will protect you! Check it out! Independently targeting particle beam phalanx. Vwap! Fry half a city with this puppy. We got tactical smart missiles, phase-plasma pulse rifles, RPGs, we got sonic electronic ball breakers! We got nukes, we got knives, sharp sticks... all part of the military-industrial-complex.
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Of course Clockwork Orange is better if many ways, but man, again, so little Love for this? And isn't there some 'More' negative word to use for Battle Royale 2 than "sucked."
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at Gamestop a few years ago. It was 1.99. I don't know if it's a bootleg or not, but it is not regionally coded and all the extra's are on the disc and it is the 122 minute directors cut. I just pulled it out and there is no distributor name on the case or the disc, so I guess it is a bootleg. Still, the picture is great and the audio is good as well. Great movie, but not something I would buy again. And I guess it's cool to trash the movie now or something. I liked it.
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I've got the region B edition, the picture quality is disappointing, I'm not sure it's worth paying for it again if you've already got it on dvd.
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Jan. 12, 2012, 9:34 p.m. CST
Saw it on the big screen @ the Philly Film Festival in either 2002 or 2003
by obijuanmartinez
Enjoyed it greatly - doubtful Hunger Games even comes close to the Japanese penchant for fatalism, and the disregard 'BR' showed for sparing the audience the sight of adolescents dispatching each other in ever more bloody ways!
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So their given guns and yet none of the kids actually think to go after the people who did this to them, instead of each other??? And what was the purpose in all of this anyways? I dont get it!?
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Has this as his favorite film in the last 20 years. I don't agree, but it's pretty fuckin' great.
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Jan. 12, 2012, 10:04 p.m. CST
Columbine (as well as a host of other school shootings in the late nineties and early aughts) made sure this film was not released wide in the US until now. BR's subject matter was somehow too taboo after those events.
by elgato73
Hell, I'd argue 9/11's aftermath and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have numbed us to the horror of what BR is really all about. School shootings are hardly national news these days unless there's a high body count as 10 plus years of war and the bodies of dead service men and women kind of overshadow those tragedies. Just look at Hunger Games. So what if its got allusions to Theseus and the Minotaur (which gets totally lost on its younger readers). Hunger Games is nothing more than BR-lite. And kids ate it up as did adults. In fact while I was subbing last year in one particular middle school, Hunger Games was being read by students and teachers alike as it was on the school's mandatory reading list. Crazy, huh? That would never have happened 10 years ago.
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Jan. 12, 2012, 10:04 p.m. CST
ghost-of-chainsaw, take it you havent seen the movie cos...
by FreeBeer
...Only a couple are given guns, and they have explosive neck collars, and the captors base is heavily fortified. And besides all this, yes, some of the kids DO decide to go after their captors.
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Jan. 12, 2012, 10:07 p.m. CST
Hunger games addresses the same issues I think
by CreamCheeseAlchemist
Overpopulation, feral youth, etc.iirc, the br kids had explosive collars or something if they went rogue but it's been over 10 years since I saw it.
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Jan. 12, 2012, 10:07 p.m. CST
And ghost in the chainsaw, you dont get it? Watch the thing dude, and you will
by FreeBeer
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Jan. 12, 2012, 10:07 p.m. CST
Also, anyone who thinks BR is over rated, is under rating it, it's a stone cold modern classic
by FreeBeer
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The guy who runs the shit give you this mandate but yet they have explosive collars, if you grab him and he detonates, he'll die too... right? I heard this is like some alternate timeline shit... Any reason why the govt does this in the first place anyways? that's why it made no sense for me.
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Jan. 12, 2012, 10:28 p.m. CST
Video of the harrowing results of a real-life "HUNGER GAME"...
by BurnHollywood
Don't think it could happen here? Surprise...it already has: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzaZWH97vPs
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Having read both, and having seen BR, I don't think there's a ripoff or remake involved. There are some obvious similarities but even more differences. Although both involve teens forced to fight to the death on national TV, BR is Lord of the Flies to HG's 1984. I'm glad that all the hype around HG helps make it possible to release BR. Each can stand nicely on its own merits.
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A CLASSIC, douchebags.
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Jan. 12, 2012, 10:43 p.m. CST
It will be nice to finally see it in a higher quality format.
by gotilk
The *DVD* import I purchased was more like... what did they call those things?... they were a movie on CD. MPEG files. The quality was far below DVD, but it wasn't a bootleg. A blu-ray will be great, FINALLY. Thank you Anchor Bay.
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*facepalm*
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I bought this shit like 8 years ago at the Virgin Record store.
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I'm talking about the 3 disc with the artwork book, and special features disc from Anchor Bay. http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Royale-Disc-Limited-Blu-ray/dp/B003ZIZ2HK/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1326430409&sr=8-5
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The mangas are hardcore to put it mildly. It amazes me they aren't banned in some countries. That aside this film is superb. A Clockwork Orange for the noughties. Kinji Fukasaku made this as an ode to his friends in world war 2 who were sent to work in factories as kids for the japanese war machine. It has been available here in Australia for ten years. American ratings board are soft cocks. How this has anything to do with 9/11 only the US could answer. Paranoid Androids.
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Jan. 12, 2012, 11:22 p.m. CST
Dropped just under $40 for a legit DVD of the director's cut (the StarMax release)
by David_Denmans_Beard
If this is the definitive cut of the film (knowing Anchor Bay these days, it likely isn't) then I'd buy the Blu-Ray. But I'm sure a few more editions are waiting in the wings.
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That's clearly not Anchor Bay, it's Arrow Films.
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Jan. 12, 2012, 11:26 p.m. CST
The premise of this Movie is Awesome and the 1st 30 minutes
by Phategod2
Are freaking Hilarious, there is no way any movie can top those 1st few scenes where these kids realize what is happening to them.
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Sounds like what you saw was the directors cut....originally everything was done with prectical effects....the CG blood was added in with some extra scenes just before the sequel came out to drive up the interest again.
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Jan. 12, 2012, 11:29 p.m. CST
I have the TARTAN VIDEO Region 1 *NTSC 5.1 version* DVD from 2002.
by justmyluck
British company, but obviously manufactured a North American compatible BATTLE ROYALE version in the day: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000068LB5
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If the link you provided is the one you have, then that's NOT a US release (notice the age restriction pips in the lower right), which is the point of this article. I own both special edition sets of the two films myself from Japan, but this being released in the US is kind of a big deal.
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It could be called "Battle Royale with Cheese."
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people love this for it's cool irony or whatever, but the director was WAY above this. he made much better films and had a very long and distinguished career. you neophyte 20-something movie geeks owe it to yourselves to discover the real Kinji Fukasaku. Battle Royale is not that great.
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Remember Stone Cold Steve Austin was the lead? So this will be as close as a US remake we will get.
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The subtitles are horrible. Obviously someone who isn't fluent in Japanese did the translation. The version I eventually bought on Amazon has the correct subtitles. Does not say anywhere who makes this DVD, but it has "UNCUT SPECIAL EDITION" on the top front of the DVD and the back says "122 minute Directors Cut." And this film is great! Doubt that there will ever be an American remake. Way too violent AND the killing of young children/teens would put off any studio making it. Hell, I think the reason that Trick 'R' Treat didn't get a theatrical release is because young kids died in it.
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Who would ever want to see this for a second time? It's average to below average--just the subject matter makes some people think it has something to say. No.....it doesn't. Remember how in NATURAL BORN KILLERS you got the point of the movie in the first ten minutes....and everything else was redundant? Same here.....it just gets boring after a while. Sheesh.
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No, there is no Region 1 DVD or Region A Blu-ray. I know because I've been looking to legally purchase a copy for YEARS. Some foreign distributors in countries like Korea and the UK (wisely) made their products compatible with American players. BTW, there was a similar delay in Japan with the sequel after an 11 year-old BR fan named Natsumi Tsuji killed her classmate with a box cutter.
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I just looked up Kinji Fukasaku, never knew the director of the green slime directed battle royale!
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The reason for the battle royale games is to break the public spirit and to show it's power. If the government can show that people, even kids will kill each other for their own survival year after year afer year, people will start trusting each other less and less. Flimsy as helll I would've preffered if they left it ambigous.
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Just netflixed it cause of all the film hipsters crying about hunger games. This movies is no where near as good as people are saying.
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Loved this film when it came out. Haven't watched it in years, so may have to throw it in the DVD player this evening...
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There was an old Strontium Dog comic story called *The Killing*, which was about a planet where the despot would hold a yearly competition. Inviting all the criminals, badasses and chancers to compete for kingly riches by trying to wipe each other out, last man standing wins. BATTLE ROYALE reminded me a lot of that. As a film I thought BR was pretty good actually, i've only seen it once and none of the characters of the kids really stood out for me - but as a generalistic action film with a cool premise I thought it succeeded.
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Jan. 13, 2012, 4:50 a.m. CST
RE: "what did 9/11 have to do with it not getting released?"
by Stalkeye
If anything I would think the sequel would not be released in America due to the opening scene in which the survivors of the last BR destroyed some financial or government institution that resembled the 9/11 attacks. Yeah, and for the record the sequel was a letdown.
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Battle royal has been available in various incarnations in the us for many years. The blu-ray edition is the only thing new here. And yea, the movie is not that good.
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One of the best dystopian Movies ever and it's a foreign film at that. You jaded shits can keep your copies of Logans Run or those other lame vintage "bleak" sci fi films, I'm getting the Anchor Bay release.
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Uk blu-ray edition came out in 2010.
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The wider context of the story is interesting and developes more in the rest of the trilogy but the core of the first book pretty much imagines a first person view of Battle Royale. It's so obvious that it's amazing to me that the trilogy of books ever took off but then I wasn't aware that BR hadn't had a US release. Very cynical of Suzanne Collins to have taken advantage of that but pretty profitable too!
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But that psycho bitch was HOT.
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Ah 2000AD, that brings back happy memories ... I would have loved to see a Strontium Dog or Rogue Trooper movie ... Well, you never know ... if Dredd does good numbers, but I don't hold out much hope ...
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Jan. 13, 2012, 6:29 a.m. CST
Will it have a white american kid added to the film as the hero?
by Ricardo
It needs white kids for american audiences to feel it's ok to watch a movie.
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Jan. 13, 2012, 6:33 a.m. CST
Columbine and/or 9/11 had nothing to do with this.
by Bullet_time_Facehugger
Neither event had anything to do with the lack of an official release of this film in the states until now. Toei films, who made the film in Japan, wanted entirely too much money for a stateside distribution deal. Supposedly they also tried to stipulate that it had to get some kind of wide theatrical release. Now that its 12 years after the fact, and the film has been widely bootlegged, I guess Toei gave up the ghost.
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Are you fucking retarded???
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Jan. 13, 2012, 6:48 a.m. CST
Battle Royale, while easy to come by, never had official US distribution.
by beastie
So, AICN is right in this respect. I don't know the laws, so I don't know if there is anything illegal going on when other regions ship to the US and subsequently, American services such as NetFlix, offer it, but there was no US distribution deal made. Also, the sequel, while a letdown, was no where near as bad as everyone will lead you to believe. What I never understood is why an Anime was never made based on the manga. It would seem tame compared to the tentacle rape shit that's out there.
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Jan. 13, 2012, 7:04 a.m. CST
@ reportabuse; Tarantino's US version? 2 hour close of some chicks bare feet while she postulates the meaning of fast food to different cultures and the names of actors in old TV shows - then fade out . . .
by Jeff Myers
I'd still buy it on Bluray though. (I know, I'm just a geek)
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reaper28, im sadly not holding out much hope on Dredd either. It's slated for Sept release but only has a budget of $45 million which is small beer for a sci fi flick. On the subject of manga tentacle rape - do you ever see what's on the *other end* of the tentacle? Is it an octopus? Because that would take an already odd fetish into the even murkier realms of cephalopod beastiality....
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Fantastic movie is more like it.
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Jan. 13, 2012, 7:10 a.m. CST
Toei held up US distribution if I remember correctly
by David_Denmans_Beard
Word was that Toei was hesitant on how it would be marketed/distributed in the US, holding it back from getting any official release in the country. The DVDs that have floated around for years are Region 0 most of the time, which allows for them to be played on most of the players in existence today. Always thought that was strange, since they have no issue licensing out anime properties and the like.
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The DVD I watched years ago was from a local video store with fantastic collections, and that DVD was Korean.
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Jan. 13, 2012, 7:36 a.m. CST
Yes, my TARTAN VIDEO *NTSC 5.1 version*, while listed as Region 1, is actually region-free.
by justmyluck
Just checked. The video quality is decent and 16x9, so the Anchor Bay Blu-ray will have to look and sound top-notch, have tantalizing extras, etc. for any more BATTLE ROYALE outlay...I mean they're asking $50! http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/164739-anchor-bay-is-bringing-battle-royale-to-us-blu-ray
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The Hunger Games for this?
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Jan. 13, 2012, 8:04 a.m. CST
Yep exactly as some of you all have mention it's the Tartan Video (British Company) All Region NTSC version that Netflix had.
by MRJONZ72
One of the reasons I loved Netflix they did similar stuff with some other movies. But yeah you could find this version at some festivals or small shops in the US but AICN is right in some regard. It's never gotten an official US release. As far as the movie. I haven't seen it in 7 years. I remember like it a lot, but wished they hadnt used the CGI blood, very obvious in some cases. The ending was wierd too, but I still enjoyed the movie alot.
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For those upset about THG and it's "plagiarism" (though that is not at all what plagiarism is), I understand your concern. But I'd like to make a few points. 1) First of all, tell me the movies in the past couple years that are complete originals all on their own. Everything takes from something else. Battle Royale was unable to reach people, and some may not connect with it. Are you truly upset that someone is "ripping it off" when the genre is actually being glorified and retold and being opened to a whole new audience? 2) As a subset to that, if you love BR so much, shouldn't you be happy that a movie like THG might attract a whole new audience to appreciate movies like BR and The Most Dangerous Game (the short story that sparked most of these "human survival as a game" stories)? 3) Perhaps most importantly, THG is driven towards young adults (teens and tweens). This is not to say it is lifeless and saps all meaning. To the contrary, it engages young people and gets kids reading, which is ABSOLUTELY what we should be doing. The more kids read, the more doors will be opened to them in terms of genre appreciate, well-argued discussions, and more. To rail against something as a "ripoff" and leave your argument at that is simply weak. Look at it from all sides. I do not presuppose that those making this argument haven't read THG; to the contrary, it sounds very much like you have. But recognize it for what it is and what it merits in young readers and those new to a genre.
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Shitty remake of a subpar movie of an entertaining book.
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The thing that struck me about this movie was the whole idea of the Millennial Education Reform Act as a tool to get kids back in line. It played on Japan's homogeneous society and the idea that being an individual and sticking out is not generally accepted. That's a big reason why I've thought an American movie version would never work. In Japan we've got the irony that a loner/social pariah like Kiriyama not only does well in Battle Royale but hangs around because he likes it, while the socially acceptable kids try to work together and get mowed down. In an American version, Kiriyama would be the kid everyone would root for because he's an individual and looks out for no one but himself.
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Jan. 13, 2012, 9:04 a.m. CST
The book was far superior to the film, but I liked them both
by Joaquin_Ondamoon
I read Hunger Games, while my sister-in-laws were raving about it as a must read. I felt it was something we've seen/read a thousand times before, and has been done much better before as well. It was Running Man meets Battle Royale. Not really looking forward to the film adaptation. I would like to see a straight up adaptation of Running Man that's closer to the original King/Bachmann story. The show in the story was an America's Most Wanted type show, where people win cash/prizes by calling in Ben Richards sightings. With social networking and the Twitterverse and whatnot, that's a no-brainer to me. And yes, much love for Johnny Alpha/Strontium Dog. The Dredd movie seems to be operating in a vaccuum - don't see or hear much about it at all. I wonder if that's the result of faith in a bad film, or a lack of funding for marketing. Or both. I've got more faith in the Judge Minty fan-film, which has just wrapped and is in post-production. That looks spot-fucking-on. Funny how people with a love for a subject and the desire to make a great film can put out something awesome on a miniscule budget and Hollywood spends millions, yet crashes and burns while churning out crap. Well, not so funny, really.
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Jesus, EDIT button already.
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saw this a Cinefamily in LA on Jan 02. It is absolutely beautiful. If you are even remptely a fan of this film it is a must buy on blu-ray. Such a good job at mastering you would think Criterion did it.
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entitled Series 7 about a group of random citizens picked by a lottery system sponsered by the state where they have to kill each other off to win a cash prize.
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I was in touch wth toei for months and tried to secure north american rights but they were very adament that they would not release the film, and it wasnt because of 9/11 but because of Columbine and thought it wasnt appropriate due to this. Im glad its finally making its way here. I think i had given them every argument in the book but they were very strict on its release here. I guess now with movies like human centipede , etc theyve realized that there is much worse than battle royale
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We're getting sum brews, gettin fuuucked up. And watching Tree of Life.
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See you tonight
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Jan. 13, 2012, 10:23 a.m. CST
Thought Scott was doing blade runner sequel next?
by Gregory schmerber
Didn't he say he was going to do blade runner sequel after Prometheus?
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The guy's whole career was informed by his teenage experience so I understood why he made the film it just felt less authentic than his earlier stuff.
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The BR directors cut is inferior to the original cut. Once you have seen the original you can enjoy the added scenes of the directors cut, just like watching deleted scenes adds to an appreciation of the film. But they are largely superfluous and as with most directors cuts there was a reason they were edited out of the first cut. The few posters complaining here that they thought the ending sucked have mentioned the basketball scene, which wasn't in the original cut. Probably the added length hurts the appreciation of it the first time that you watch it. There is a reason excessive running times hurt a film and it isn't because audiences are impatient or theaters are cravenly trying to ramp up the number of showings per evening. The pacing of the film is crucial to creating excitement and suspense. If the film is over 100 minutes then every minute added needs to be crucial. Superfluous scenes drag it down and the viewer comes away thinking "great opening but it went downhill afterward." People should watch the original cut of BR first and then if they are a fan and want to see it a second time, then they will doubtlessly enjoy the directors cut a lot more than if that was their first look at the movie.
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Jan. 13, 2012, 11:16 a.m. CST
You don't like Battle Royale. You don't like Wes Anderson films. You have a practical shit-fit every time Tim Burton directs. But Jar-Jar Abrams' crapfests get a lifetime pass?
by gruntybear
WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU PEOPLE? 'Cuz you ain't movie geeks. No way. No how.
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Jan. 13, 2012, 11:30 a.m. CST
To be clear: I liked Battle Royale. It was the ending that sucked!
by Zardoz
The rest of the movie is pretty brilliant. It's High school social-politics maxed up to the extreme. Got a beef with the head cheerleader? Shoot her! The kitchen scene in the lighthouse was incredible! Definitely worth a look!
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There have been many fight for survival stories through time, but Battle Royale was the first to make it about kids. Plus they kept it ultra violent while commenting on how the world is pretty much as amoral and sick as when people used to attend executions..... BR combines, the voyeur, gore and taboo of using kid violence... No American studio would have made this at that time... and probably still won't without watering it down... Just Like AKIRA... BR is a classic
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Though in fairness, Mockingjay goes absolutely nuts towards the end, the first two books would be Die Hard 4 level violence (If even that), but the final book goes Starship Troopers / Robocop violent.
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Back in 1996, attempted to make same satirization of ultra senseless violence with Mean Guns. The film was as senseless as all my other films but lacked budget and time and blood to really get the theme right. But the Mambo was pretty good! I don't think we quite succeeded unfortunately. I met some young Japanese directors in Brussels who made those films and they had Nemesis, Cyborg and Mean Guns posters for me to sign for them. Hope my influence was not detrimental to them. Albert Pyun
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Now that, I would see.
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Jan. 13, 2012, 1:42 p.m. CST
I didn't know their was a director's cut, I guess I'll skip it.
by kirttrik
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When is that getting a DVD relaease? I agree that this has been easy to get making me question Nordlings intelligence and credibility for the upteenth time. But for those vagina's out there saying that this is overrated...your just sad and pathetic trolls who are probably just mad that there wasn't any rape in this. I love this film. PS the sequel sucked balls.
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It came out a few years back, and doing research it's going for about 6 bucks on Amazon.
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they'll up the kids' ages. Hollywood seems to hate actual young people and would rather hire 20-somethings and even some 30-somethings for teen roles. Logan's Run was supposed to have a maximum age of 21 and the movie producers upped it to 30. And now the remake stars a 31-year old Ryan Gosling, so they seem to be repeating that.
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Bingo. Most of the people who post here don't know anything about cinema. They remind me of the students I'd see at UCLA's film school who'd walk out of any movie that was in monochrome, even if it was a nitrate print! Philistines.
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Jan. 13, 2012, 7:43 p.m. CST
isnt there a better type of movie like this called The Contenders
by Series7
are something like that? Also that Stone Cold movie was a lot of fun.
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Classic film.
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Everything about this page is wrong. I imported the film almost ten years ago and so did almost everyone else who might have an interest in it. Japan-haters can bitch all they want about Battle Royale, but it's one of the best movies I've ever seen. The first Hunger Games book is a slicker adaptation of Battle Royale with multiple sequences completely ripped off from the original property. Americans can get away with this kind of shit all the time (i.e. Kimba the White Lion, Darren Aronofsky ripping off Satoshi Kon liberally and giving him no credit at all), because Japanese creators feel that imitation is the highest form of flattery. If you're going to see The Hunger Games in theaters, you owe it to yourself to watch and support Battle Royale, which in addition to being the origin of the whole idea is actually funnier and much more violent and macabre. Think of Battle Royale as the bleak, existentialist and absurdist version of the story with more badassery and angst, whereas The Hunger Games is a straight-up action-drama.
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a straight up action-drama with strong political overtones. Both BR and HG are loaded with the same brand of bleak social commentary, which is the main reason why I find it impossible to believe that Collins had no knowledge of BR's existence. At least admit that it was an inspiration! I can't imagine how they'll do the Hunger Games sequels and keep them at PG-13. Thematically speaking all three films should be rated R.
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I remember seeing a movie that looked a lot like this. My GF and I went through a series of low budget chop-socky movies on Netflix a long time ago. One of them looked almost exactly like this, but it seemed to be centered on one girl, and I think the main honcho running the camp was a woman, and the point was to whittle everyone down to one super bad kid to be a champion fighter or maybe a soldier or something like that. Can anyone tell me what that would be?
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All the people who say it is over hyped do not give any valid reasons for it. Hardly no one mentioned the social commentary on it, which makes it great. The pressure that parents put on their children in Japan. Kids competing against each other to be successful. Japan has a high suicide rate and so on. This movie is great.
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