Tsuburaya Productions’ Ultraman CG Animated Film to premiere on Netflix in 2024

On Tuesday, Netflix declared that their forthcoming Ultraman CG animated feature film, created in collaboration with Tsuburaya Productions, is scheduled to be released in 2024. The movie marks the feature directorial debut of Shannon Tindle, the animator of Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, with co-director John Aoshima. Tsuburaya Productions and Industrial Light and Magic are credited as the production companies. The film’s screenplay is co-written by Tindle and Marc Haimes, with Tom Knott as producer and Lisa Poole as co-producer.

The team is planning to cast “a mix of Japanese and western stars, coupled with a large number of below-the-line talent from Japan.” The film follows the story of Ken Sato, a baseball superstar who returns to his homeland, Japan, to become the Earth-defending superhero Ultraman. However, things get more complicated when he discovers he must raise the offspring of his greatest foe, a newborn Kaiju. Struggling to balance his roles as a teammate and a new father, Ken must confront his ego, his estranged father, and the conniving Kaiju Defense Force to rise up and discover what it truly means to be Ultraman.

In April 2019, Netflix launched an Ultraman CG anime based on Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi’s Ultraman manga, with Kenji Kamiyama and Shinji Aramaki directing the anime at Production I.G. The anime’s last season, Ultraman Final, will be available globally on Netflix starting May 11. Studio Khara’s Shin Ultraman movie debuted in Japan in May 2022 and achieved the top spot in its first weekend, earning a combined total of $601,490 in its U.S. screenings on January 11 and 12. The film was also shown in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada on January 11-12.