While manga-to-film adaptations are still produced most often in Japan, with both the development of animated and live-action adaptations gaining more traction here in the West, more projects reimagining Japanese comics are coming to life thanks to Hollywood. Soon enough, someone else will join that list. A new trailer just dropped Knights of the Zodiaca direct adaptation of the classic 1980s legendary fantasy manga and anime Saint Seiya.
Knights of the Zodiac It is directed by Tomasz Baginski, executive producer on several episodes of Netflix the magician, A direct adaptation of the popular video game series. The script was co-written by Josh Campbell, Matt Stoeken, and Agent Murray. The movie is based on the original manga called Saint SeiyaCreated by Masami Kurumada. The manga has spawned a massive anime series spanning hundreds of episodes over nearly three decades, all the way to a CG-style remake in 2019 courtesy of Netflix and Crunchyroll.
He stars in the new movie Mackino, who also stars in the live-action one piece Adaptation, Sean Penn (The Martian), Madison Iseman (Fear of rain), Diego Tinoco (on my blog), Famke Jansen (Basement), Nick Stahl (Night blooms), and Mark Dacascos (John Wick: Chapter 3).
Guardians of Athena, Reincarnated, and Reimagined
The trailer opens with a young woman named Sienna (Madison Iseman) waking from a dream in which she imagines the destruction of humanity and the world around her by the goddess Athena, who she realizes is a reincarnation. She fears for the future and her life, but Allman Kiddo (Sean Bean) promises that she will remain safe, then sets out to track down those worthy of serving as her guardians. He encounters a young man named Seiya (Mackenyu), who is a fierce, stubborn kid who knows his way around the fighting arena and uses some rather unusual legendary powers to overwhelm all of his rivals. Allman takes notice and recruits him to be Sienna’s first guardian. Seiya trains with the other Guardians to properly harness his powers, initially overwhelmed by their confusion. Eventually, he attains full power as a Pegasus Knight, easily wiping out all those who stand in his way. This catches the attention of those who will witness Athena’s death, namely Jurad (Famke Jansen).
Knights of the Zodiac It hits theaters everywhere on May 12th. The trailer can be viewed below.
