Neon Genesis Evangelion: 2007 release [you are (not) alone]

Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版:序) , Evangerion Shin Gekijōban: Jo?, lit. "Evangelion New Theatrical Version: Prephase") is a 2007 Japanese animated film written and chief directed by Hideaki Anno. It is the first of four films released in the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy based on the original anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. It was produced and co-distributed by Anno's Studio Khara.

Now, this is the Latest Release of the 1996 Classic Awarded Anime That Marks the legend of Classic Anime, from the Original Title Neon Genesis Evangelion. At first you will noticed that it's the same as the older Gainax release Movie that has its similarities to older releases. but as you moved on to this new released movie, you will say "Man, this is cooler than the old releases", because this one is more Enhanced, and Re-made from its original script. Many scenes revised and re-modelled.

*The plot is for largely a point-for-point adaptation of episodes 1 through 6 of the original Evangelion series. While some events are portrayed in exactly the same way, often using the same storyboards from the television show, albeit newly redrawn; other events unfold differently, using new storyboards and/or 3D computer animation. Most notably, the fifth angel Ramiel, and the fight against him, has gone through a complete redesign.

Shinji Ikari arrives in Tokyo-3, sent for by his father Gendo. As he wanders about town, he is caught in the crossfire between the U.N. army and the fourth Angel (third in the original version), Sachiel. Rescued by Lieutenant Colonel Misato Katsuragi, Shinji is brought to NERV Headquarters and is guilted by Gendo, who turns out to be Supreme Commander of NERV, into piloting Evangelion Unit-01 against Sachiel when its primary pilot, the mysterious Rei Ayanami, is too injured to pilot. After the initial fight, Shinji is taken in by Misato as her new housemate and enrolled in middle school. The film portrays Shinji's attempts to "settle in" with his newfound life alongside Misato, Rei and the other characters while continuing to defend Tokyo-3 and the world from the coming Angels as the new pilot of Unit-01.
In the final scene, a naked Kaworu Nagisa is awakened by SEELE on the surface of the Moon, which is visibly stained with a streak of blood, cryptically saying that "the third one" hasn't changed at all and that he looks forward to meeting Shinji.

"Evangelion: 1.01 You Are (Not) Alone: Limited Design Edition" was released in Japan on April 25, 2008 (with the film's pictures, editing, and sound fine-tuned for DVD by Anno) and will be released in a "Normal Edition" on May 21. A Blu-ray Disc release has not been announced at this time.

At the film's theatrical premiere on September 1, 2007, the film's official Bandai Channel news feed reported full houses and full applause from fans[3]. It took first place at the Japanese box office on its opening weekend, with some 236,158 spending 280 million yen (about US $2.4 million) to watch it. This income can be considered unusual, considering the film was played at only 84 theaters in the country. [4]
The film was later released in South Korea (January 24, 2008), Singapore (March 13, 2008), Hong Kong (April 3, 2008), and Taiwan (April 18, 2008). Australian-based Red Ant Enterprises has announced Evangelion 1.0 as one of 35 titles they will bring to Australia throughout 2008 and into 2009. [5] French distributor Dybex has announced it will release Evangelion 1.0 in France, starting with an out of competition projection at the 2008 Annecy International Animated Film Festival.[6][7]
It received the 2008 Tokyo International Anime Fair award for anime of the year; Anno received best director[8]. It was nominated for Animation of the year at the 2008 Japan Academy Prize.[9]

Utada Hikaru provided the ending theme song "Beautiful World" from her single Beautiful World / Kiss & Cry. She also provided a reprised remix of the series original ending theme "Fly Me to the Moon", known as "Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) -2007 MIX-", from the version she released in 2000 on her Wait & See ~Risk~ single. It served as the soundtrack to the first full theatrical trailer.
The score for the film, composed and arranged by Shiro Sagisu, was recorded at Abbey Road Studios with performances by the London Studio Orchestra. The album featuring the film's score was released on September 26, with the catalog number KICA-887.[10] Many of the 26 songs on the soundtrack are rearranged versions of songs from the original series.

Directed by
Hideaki Anno (chief)MasayukiKazuya Tsurumaki
Produced by
Toshimichi Otsuki
Written by
Hideaki Anno
Starring
Megumi OgataMegumi HayashibaraKotono Mitsuishi
Music by
Shiro Sagisu
Cinematography
Susumu Fukushi
Editing by
Hirofumi Okuda
Distributed by
KlockWorx and Khara Taewon Entertainment Red Ant Enterprises [1] Dybex[2]
Release date(s)
September 1, 2007 January 24, 2008 March 13, 2008 April 3, 2008 April 18, 2008
Running time
98 minutes
Country
Japan
Language
Japanese
Gross revenue
¥2.0 bil. ($18.7 mil.)

(sr: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelion:_1.0_You_Are_%28Not%29_Alone)

'Speed Racer' leads Hollywood's latest charge: Anime adaptations

LOS ANGELES — Having snatched up virtually every comic book title to ever hit shelves, Hollywood studios are plumbing new depths in search of a blockbuster genre.

And they think they've found it in anime.

Leading the charge are the nerd kings who grew up on the Asian cartoons, Andy and Larry Wachowski, whose Speed Racer arrives in theaters May 9.

Racer marks not only a return to the brothers' filmmaking roots; it's the first of several big-budget gambles the industry is taking on a genre that remains unknown to many American moviegoers.

Still, big names are gobbling up titles:

•Leonardo DiCaprio will produce two films based on the popular anime story Akira, set in a rebuilt Tokyo after a mysterious explosion decimated the city. The first of the Warner Bros. films, to be set in "New Manhattan," is scheduled for summer 2009.

•Director M. Night Shyamalan will direct The Last Airbender, an adaptation of the popular Asian-influenced Nickelodeon series about a young hero with the power to manipulate the elements. It's due July 2, 2010.

•Steven Spielberg will adapt Ghost in the Shell, a futuristic crime thriller based on the 1989 Japanese comic, or manga, that spawned a half-dozen films and video games. No release date has been set.

But for now, all eyes are on Racer, seen by many as a barometer of audiences' appetites for big-screen anime adaptations.

Domestic box office for Japanese anime features has been mixed. While the Pokémon franchise has proved appealing to kids, little anime has caught on with broader audiences. According to Box Office Mojo, the highest-grossing anime film geared to older moviegoers is 2002's Spirited Away, which took in $10.1 million.

That won't cut it when your budget is $120 million, the reported cost of Racer.

Filmmakers and fans are quick to point out that most of the anime adaptations will be live action — a much easier sell at theaters. And unlike the dark and violent tone of many anime stories, Racer is a family-friendly PG.

But they also acknowledge that the genre appeals to a select group. "Generation X is very familiar with anime," says Zac Bertschy, executive editor of the Anime News Network, a website dedicated to the genre. "But if you're not in that age group, there may be a learning curve."

Racer won't suffer from a lack of fan familiarity. The question, says Michael Pinto of anime.com, is whether the Wachowskis have the craftsmanship they demonstrated in 1999's The Matrix, which was partly inspired by Akira and Shell.

"They won over a lot of anime fans with the first one, and disappointed a lot of them with the sequels," Pinto says. "They're obviously fanboys. People want them to regain that touch, because it could open the door for more anime."

Reloading for 'Racer'

The brothers have opened doors before. Despite tough reviews for 2003's Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions, the films made more than $1.6 billion worldwide and redefined the standard of Hollywood special effects.

"There are two scenes in Reloaded that people kept talking," says Joel Silver, producer of Racer and the Matrix trilogy and the Wachowskis' unofficial spokesman.

"One is when the camera seems to fly through this impossibly small space beneath a truck," he says. "The other is when Trinity (played by Carrie-Anne Moss) is speeding the wrong way down the highway and missing cars by inches. Nobody had seen computer effects like that before, and the brothers wanted to do an entire movie that way."

And they did, essentially dropping actors into a computer-generated world. The Wachowskis packed up their cast, which includes Emile Hirsch as Speed, Matthew Fox as Racer X and Christina Ricci as Trixie, and sequestered them on a Berlin sound stage, where nearly the entire film was shot.

"It's a racing movie, and there's not a real car in the whole thing," Hirsch says. "It was a little like living in the Matrix."

The filmmakers shot still pictures in Morocco, Greece, Italy, France, Germany and California to create backdrops for the movie's elaborate races. For those scenes, actors sat in a rotating gimbal that the brothers worked with a remote control while animators created a landscape whipping by.

The brothers rigged a special monitor that let actors see themselves in the artificial backgrounds so they'd know if they were racing through the desert or speeding through the Alps.

"You're sitting there in this little cage, thinking there's no way it's going to look real," Fox says. "Then they'd bring us behind the camera to look at the shot, and we're racing through a mountain pass. That's the reason I wanted to do this movie, to work with them. They try things few directors would."

The film, Hirsch says, was initially a jarring adjustment from the months he spent in the Alaskan wilderness for last year's Into the Wild. "But it's worth it to see the brothers work," he says. "You've got all these monitors, computers, monkeys. You feel like you're getting to listen in on geniuses — who went a little mad."

Ricci prefers to think of their films as the product of geekiness than madness.

"You know they still play Dungeons and Dragons?" Ricci asks. "You'll be sitting around on set, listening to them go on and on about why they hate the concept of time travel. I love that. There's all this mystery around them because they don't talk to press. But they're really very sweet, kind of sensitive guys who happen to have a nerdy side."

Kinder, gentler anime

It's that combination, Silver says, that's key to the success of Racer — and anime overall.

"If it's all just effects and style, it isn't going to work," he says. "Audiences see right through that. But the brothers really loved Speed Racer. And they wanted to make a family movie, something they've never done."

Indeed, those looking for the body count and dark themes of the Wachowskis' earlier films such as The Matrix and V for Vendetta won't find it in Racer, an homage to the show they watched religiously as children.

The original 1967 series, Mahha GoGoGo, became the first Japanese anime to succeed on U.S. television, running for two years and spawning toys and clothes. And like that show, the film doesn't have an ironic bone in its body.

"They aren't smirking when they made this," Silver says. "It meant a lot to them. It showed them that animation wasn't just The Flintstones. You could push the envelope."

Of course, envelope-pushing isn't typically Hollywood's style, and anime fans may be wondering whether big studios will retain the themes and tone of their favorite stories.

"There was no pathos in the original Speed Racer, so I don't think that's a concern for fans," Bertschy says. "But a lot of anime is dark. It deals with existential philosophy. It doesn't always end happily. Fans are glad anime is getting its day, but people are holding their breaths to see what the movies are like."

By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY