I wouldn’t expect the film until the Summer at the earliest. Maybe if everything works out it’ll be June 26, 2021 which is exactly one full calendar year after the planned original June 27,2020 release date.

EVERYTHING is about putting a dent in the spread of Covid with social distancing, masks and proper vaccination - Japan hasn’t even approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine in their country and won’t make a decision until mid-February - and NOTHING is about what the filmmakers want to schedule.

Covid won’t be turned around in a month. It will be a slow and steady process. Hospitals are full right now. In some places it’s so bad it is just like it is here in the US, if someone needs to go to the emergency room for a non-Covid related issue they might not be able to get help or a bed. With the new variants being more transmissible the world is in crisis mode right now until vaccines (and regrettably so many people already having had COVID) can put a dent in the spread of the virus.

The first half of 2021 was always going to suck. But as long as authorities can properly distribute vaccines then the second half of 2021 can be good.

And hopefully 2022 will be one big party.

Both Doraemon and Gundam are still relatively far away (March & May) so they aren't really affected by the January-February lockdown... for now, at least.

And yeah, I agree with hui, if a new hot property like Demon Slayer could have such crazy BO performances, one can only wonder what Shin Eva is capable of if theatres are back with full capacity or at least normal operational hours.

It should be noted that prior to emergency news, they were still confident to release it even with distanced sitting as theaters are still running normally. So the thing that really affected them is the decreased number of screenings in a day, not to mention it leads to the cancellation of midnight premieres + back-to-back 3.333/Shin screenings which are supposed to be THE big launch event.

I never understood the 23 january relaese date. Scientist have been telling us january and february were goning to be a shitshow for months. A late january release date has always been at best a gamble with terrible odds, the kind you would never take in Vegas.

GhostlyOcam you are right for now the Doraemon and Gundam films should not be at risk, with the vaccine the probabilities that these films can be released on the scheduled date should be quite high. I hope that after the 7th Febraury they will invent something to be able to contain the counts without damaging the economy too much, I hope that by the summer they will find a way to make cinemas safe enough to afford a number of fans that can give a profit that for Khara, Toha and Toei is acceptable.

FXArmaros98 wrote:kuribo-04for me it is not only the pandemic that will make it difficult to get the film before the summer but also this

Oh man...yeah there's that too. But if they keep waiting they'll coincide with the behemoth the last Miyazaki film will be.

kuribo-04 wrote:But if they keep waiting they'll coincide with the behemoth the last Miyazaki film will be.

I wouldn’t worry about that. Miyazaki is doing that at his own pace and apparently pre-pandemic Ghibli was only doing about a minute of animation a month. At the end of 2019 after three years of work they’d only had 36 minutes done. Wouldn’t expect Hayao Miyazaki’s How Do You Live? until 2023 at the earliest.

kuribo-04 this movie has an incredible bad luck

FXArmaros98 wrote: Japan is the land of anime so I know that should be almost impossible that Evangelion will not have a tough rival at the cinema so I think we have to wait for the right moment for the release.

The film was ready for summer 2020 but Covid went into action and when they could release it around November and December there was Demon Slayer as a rival. Hell if I were in Anno right now I would really regret not having concluded the saga in 2013.

FXArmaros98 wrote:hui43210 another problem in my opinion is that the Doraemon and Gundam movies have not yet received a delay on the date.

I don't know anything about Doraemon, but in the case of Gundam, I know Hathaway's Flash was originally supposed to be released on July 7th of last year. I think things will calm down by the May 21st release.

Gendo'sPapa wrote:I wouldn’t expect the film until the Summer at the earliest. Maybe if everything works out it’ll be June 26, 2021 which is exactly one full calendar year after the planned original June 27,2020 release date.

There is another date that has to be considered: March 31st. That is the last day of the fiscal year in Japan. There could be some pressure to release the film before then, so certain financial parties will be in the black by that date.

And hopefully 2022 will be one big party.

So say we all.

Gendo'sPapa wrote:Miyazaki is doing that at his own pace and apparently pre-pandemic Ghibli was only doing about a minute of animation a month. At the end of 2019 after three years of work they’d only had 36 minutes done. Wouldn’t expect Hayao Miyazaki’s How Do You Live? until 2023 at the earliest.

I'd read about that. But maybe Miyazaki is (finally) leaving some work for younger staff. He does know he is getting older right?

Makoto Shinkai will take some time for his next film I guess.

Thing is can you ever be sure what the next audience magnet is? I didn't see Demon Slayer coming.

The ghibli film is still all hand drawn animation so it’s taking an age to make

FXArmaros98 wrote:hui43210 that's right, that's a problem too. I don't think the film can get a new date without at least some of the Japanese population getting vaccinated. I believe they could only reopen cinemas to people who present a medical certificate proving they have received the vaccine or are negative for the virus. I think we will have to wait for what the Japanese government decides to do after February 7 and the distribution of vaccines.

Begin, the ethical nightmares will.

Heaven Piercing Man I just hope we can get this damn movie before 2022 without the risk of Japan becoming a barren wasteland or a dictatorship. Am I asking too much perhaps?

FXArmaros98 wrote:Heaven Piercing Man I just hope we can get this damn movie before 2022 without the risk of Japan becoming a barren wasteland or a dictatorship. Am I asking too much perhaps?

I think you're asking too little. I have hope that the movie will come out by summer, by autumn at the absolute worst. And even though COVID sucks, I doubt that it will lead to the end of the world.

BusterMachine4 I was just having an emotional outlet, nothing more. However, the film could also come out in late spring at best of casses if the vaccine is useful and if the cinemas have safety regulations that allow there are enough fans to allow a profit that will at least make Khara, Toei and Toho satisfied.

Here's how I might split the baby:

-Digital release right now
-"Special Edition" theatrical release with extra scenes next year

What I need to know is which company will license the film for an American release?
It could either be FUNimation (who previously licensed the previous Rebuild films, though they let their licenses to 1.0 and 2.0 expire) or GKIDS (who will release Neon Genesis on Blu-ray in North America, and can probably also relicense 1.0 and 2.0 alongside 3.0+1.0, maybe they can even relicense 3.0 if it expires by the time 3.0+1.0 releases in North America).

I really wish GKIDS would pick this up.

HARVEST wrote:What I need to know is which company will license the film for an American release?
It could either be FUNimation (who previously licensed the previous Rebuild films, though they let their licenses to 1.0 and 2.0 expire) or GKIDS (who will release Neon Genesis on Blu-ray in North America, and can probably also relicense 1.0 and 2.0 alongside 3.0+1.0, maybe they can even relicense 3.0 if it expires by the time 3.0+1.0 releases in North America).

I really wish GKIDS would pick this up.

For continuity I reckon funimation will do all they can to acquire the license.

Funimation had a lot to say about Netflix redubbing NGE with new voices so hopefully they put their money where their mouth is

^ Funi had a lot to say about the Netflix streaming acquisition of NGE as a whole, not just the dubbing. They fact that they've gone completely radio silent about NGE after the GKids disc acquisition, and are letting their current Eva library slowly expire instead of hyping it back up in light of Shin Eva like any sane capitalist company would, tells me that they're probably no longer actively playing in the Evangelion arena.

And Eva/the world will be better off for it.

Hey, the Funi dub wasn't actually that bad. Besides the gratuitous cussing, they actually did a pretty good job. In my opinion, a ranked list of all the Eva dubs, from best to worst, would look something like this:

Funimation > Netflix > ADV > Manga

That's kind of an off-topic comment, though.