Comic-Con International 2007

ADV Films

Panelist: Matt Greenfield, Chris Oarr

Continuing their summer of convention appearances, ADV started their Comic-Con panel with a recap of some of the recent titles they've announced, including Air, Xenosaga, Welcome to the NHK, The Wallflower, Tokyo Majin, and Devil May Cry, amongst others. To the excitement of many fans, Greenfield kicked off the video portion of the panel by playing trailers for Devil May Cry, Pumpkin Scissors, and Gurren Lagann.

Relating to ADV Manga, Yotsuba&! was recently resumed a few weeks ago; the fifth volume will be released in October. Other series, including Gunslinger Girl, have resumed their print runs as well. Around Christmas-time, ADV will be releasing an omnibus edition of Azumanga Daioh, which will collect the entire series in a 680-page book.

To discuss the new Appleseed: Ex Machina movie was Joseph Chou from Axis Entertainment. Although the movie is being distributed outside of Japan by Warner Home Video, ADV will be collaborating on the production of the English dub. The film is being directed by Shinji Aramaki, and is based on Masamune Shiro's manga; it is being produced by John Woo. Ex Machina's budget is three times that of the previous Appleseed movie, and includes a soundtrack written by Golden Globe and Grammy-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto; some of the music will be performed by Yellow Magic Orchestra, of which he is a part. Furthering the list of big names, main character Deunan Knute's wardrobe will feature two costumes designed by the famed Miuccia Prada.

To the surprise of panel attendees, Chō showed a video message from producer John Woo, who greeted the audience and invited them to watch some clips from the movie.

Ex Machina will be released in theaters later in the year, and will be bundled with other ADV releases like 5cm a Second. More information will be given as it becomes available.

During the Q&A portion of the panel, Greenfield said that “fascinating things” were happening with the live-action Evangelion movie, but he was not at liberty to discuss them at the moment. However, although there is no information available on the possibility of ADV licensing the new Evangelion movies, he said that, as someone who is married to the voice actress of Asuka, “there is certainly a great incentive of us to go ahead and do that.”

This report has been verified by a studio representative.