The popular Japanese TV series ULTRA GALAXY: MEGA MONSTER BATTLE will hit the big screen in Japan this year with MEGA MONSTER BATTLE: ULTRA GALAXY LEGENDS – THE MOVIE (Daikaiju Batoru Urutora Ginga Densetsu THE MOVIE). Releasing in December, it will feature one of it not the biggest casts of Ultraman characters in history. There is even plans to see it eventually get an American release (though probably through DVD) as it will be distributed by Warner Brothers so says, The Official Site.

Ultraman is sort of the silly brother of Godzilla in America but has had a fair amount of success in Japan. This is the 38th Ultraman production from Tsuburaya Productions. Tsuburaya Productions is Ultraman's parent company and have created several shows here in the US as well, importing variation of Ultraman through the years. The original 1966 Ultraman and it's spin off Ultra 7 probably remain the most popular incarnations of Ultraman here in the states, with Ultraman: Towards the Future and then Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero right behind.

Ultraman: Towards the Future was created along with the show that followed specifically for American audiences and was actually re-edited back for Japan something that's pretty rare for this genre. These 1990's incarnations of Ultraman saw the creation of much merchandise including cool action figures from Bandai and my personal favorite, the Super Nintendo Ultraman game. Worth tracking down if you like monotonous big monster battle games.


It's an EVIL Ultraman!
According to Sci-Fi Japan this new movie is basically an all out war of the Ultramen in no holds barred battle royal style:

The main antagonist in the latest movie is not a monster but an Ultraman. A new character, Ultraman Belial, is cited as being the first “villainous Ultraman” in the 43 year history of the franchise, who was locked away in the space prison by the mighty Ultraman King tens of thousands of years ago.

The story heats up when Belial breaks free from his prison, and plans to use the Giga-Battlenizer to control 100 giant monsters and conquer the galaxy, shrouding the home world of the Ultramen in a state of darkness. Set in nebula M-78 on the Star of Ultra – the home world of the Ultramen – original Ultra heroes Ultraman and Ultra Seven stand with the popular Ultraman Mebius against the devious Ultraman Belial. As the movie takes place in their homeland, the heroes are not restricted by the same 3-minute timer as they are when they visit Earth.

You can't tell me that doesn't sound all kinds of awesome. I'm sort of surprised it's taken this long to get an evil Ultraman. With this adventure taking place on the Ultraman planet it'll create some interesting tension as well. Best of all the original actors of Hayata (Ultraman) and Dan Moroboshi (Ultra Seven) respectively will be appearing in the movie. They really went all out in this one.

Hopefully it gets a cool US DVD release down the line. I haven't bought much of the new Ultraman stuff (although I did buy Season 1 of the original Ultraman TV show release) but I would definitely look into getting this.