Anime News - Yamato is #1 Japanese Live-Action Film BD to Date

Takashi Yamazaki's live-action film adaptation of the Space Battleship Yamato space opera anime sold 24,985 units during the June 20-26 week to become the top-selling domestic live-action film on Blu-ray Disc in Japan so far. It also moved 56,090 DVDs since it officially went on sale on home video on June 24.

The film earned 943 million yen (about US$11.4 million) in its first five days at the Japanese box office last December.

38-year-old SMAP band member Takuya Kimura (Howl's Moving Castle's Howl) headlines this film based on the anime classic, which was adapted as Star Blazers in English. The other cast membersinclude Meisa Kuroki (Vexille - 2077 Isolation of Japan's Vexille,Crows Zero's Luca), Toshiro Yanagiba, and Tsutomu Yamazaki.Takashi Yamazaki helmed Returner, Always: Sunset on Third Street, and last year's Ballad, before directing Yamato. Aerosmith vocalist Steven Tyler wrote and sang the film's theme song, "Love Lives."

The video extras on the Blu-ray Disc release include a making-of video that followed Kimura, footage from the opening-day greetings by the staff and cast, and a discussion between Kimura and the director.

(animenewsnetwork.com)