Fathom Events has cut a new trailer to promote the Macross franchise's impending return to the United States.
Fathom will bring the classic 1994 anime movie Macross Plus to select theaters for one night only on Dec. 14. The movie is notable for being the directorial debut of Shinichiro Watanabe, who would later go on to direct acclaimed anime series such as Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. The movie was also Watanabe's first collaboration with composer Yoko Kanno, who would go on to pen Cowboy Bebop's iconic jazz soundtrack and would also return to the Macross franchise to compose the score for its 2008 sequel series, Macross Frontier. This will be the first time that the movie has been officially screened in theaters within the United States, and will also mark the first release of a Macross anime in the region in several decades. Tickets for the event are now available for preorder.
The movie is a condensed cut of a 4-volume OVA (original video animation,) that was originally released in Japan in 1994. The first canon sequel to the classic and highly influential Super Dimension Fortress Macross anime, Macross Plus takes place several decades years after the conclusion of the original series. Humanity and their new Zentradi allies have recovered from the mass destruction that occurred in the first show and have now established new colony worlds throughout the galaxy. The movie features an all new cast of characters, including protagonist Isamu Dyson, a cocky test pilot who gets selected to test the military's latest transforming jet fighter/giant robot, the YF-19. Isamu's assignment becomes even more dangerous when he is reintroduced to his old rival, Guld Goa Bowman, who is piloting a competing robot design, and his childhood friend Myung Fang Lone, who is now working as the producer for the mysterious virtual pop star, Sharon Apple.
The movie's re-release marks the return of the Macross franchise to North America. The film was originally released on VHS and DVD in North America by Manga Entertainment, though this release has been out of print since the early 2000s. A decades-long legal battle between the Japanese rights holders to the franchise and Harmony Gold, the company that created the Robotech series, previously prevented the release of any Macross material outside of Japan. That legal fight was finally settled earlier this year, with all of the involved companies now agreeing to collaborate on the release of Macross and Robotech material worldwide. As of this time, no announcements have been made about a possible North American re-release for the original Macross anime, or any of its other sequel series, such as Macross 7, Macross Frontier, and the most entry in the franchise, Macross Delta.
Source: YouTube