ULTRAMAN: RISING Director Says Animated Film Will Kick Off a Trilogy
Ultraman: Rising looks like it’s going to be an interesting project and very different from the Ultraman projects that we’ve seen made in the past.
The movie is an action-adventure comedy that sees Ultraman battle giant creatures, but it also sees the hero finding himself in a situation where he’s babysitting a baby Kaiju.
According to the film’s director Shannon Tindle, this film will kick off a trilogy of movies that he has planned. During an interview with CB, Tindle said: "I will say this. I have ideas for two more films. I know very specifically what I want to do for those two films.”
He continued: “And all I can say is, fans of the emotion and the heart of Ultraman, people who don't know anything about Ultraman at all, I think are going to be surprised if I get to make those movies, and hardcore fans, they're going to have fun too. Because there's one thing that we didn't explore in this film [...] so I'll let you infer what you want with that."
The story for the first film follows Baseball superstar Ken Sato, who “returns to his home country of Japan to pick up the mantle of Earth-defending superhero Ultraman, but quickly finds more than he bargained for when he's forced to raise the offspring of his greatest foe, a newborn Kaiju.
“Struggling to balance the roles of teammate and new father, Ken must confront his own ego, his estranged father, and the conniving Kaiju Defense Force to rise up and discover what it truly means to be Ultraman."
Ultraman: Rising takes viewers on a gripping journey filled with newfound responsibilities, unexpected challenges, and the age-old battle between good and evil.
The cast of Ultraman: Rising includes Christopher Sean (You, Gotham Knights), Gedde Watanabe (Sixteen Candles, Parental Guidance), Tamlyn Tomita (The Karate Kid Part II, Cobra Kai, and Avatar: The Last Airbender), Keone Young (Men in Black 3, Star Wars Rebels), and Julia Harriman.
The film comes from Tsuburaya Productions, who teamed up with Netflix and Industrial Light & Magic to bring this new Ultraman story to life.