It’s been about four years since Legendary Entertainment acquired the rights to adapt Kohei Horikoshi’s hit manga, My Hero Academia. The animated series from the studio, Bones, was in its fifth season, while the development of the movie up-ticked a bit with the attachment of filmmaker Shinsuke Sato to direct as of last year.
Sato has since taken off with the release of his most recent manga adaptation, a sequel to 2019 Warring States epic, Kingdom, as of this summer, and a second season of his hit series, Alice In Borderland, opening later this month on Netlix. As for My Hero Academia, the film has since found its new launchpad at the streaming service with Sato directing from a script by Joby Harold (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Army of the Dead).
Mary Parent and Alex Garcia are producing for Legendary with Sato exec producing. Toho Co., Ltd. will handle the film’s theatrical distribution regionally apart from its release on Netflix.
As Netflix describes it, “My Hero Academia has won over audiences worldwide with distinctive characters battling their way through high school in a world where 80% of Earth’s population manifests some kind of exceptional ability called a “quirk”. For superhero fanboy Izuku Midoriya (a.k.a. Deku), being born without a quirk makes him almost give up his dream of going to U.A. High School, the most prestigious hero training academy. But after a chance encounter with the legendary All Might, Deku starts on the road to become the greatest hero.
“With over 65 million total copies (including digital editions) in circulation worldwide as a series, My Hero Academia, written and illustrated by Kohei Horikoshi, continues to develop into a global powerhouse. A part of publisher Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump since 2014, both the manga and the ongoing anime series from Bones Inc. & TOHO Animation are considered among the best of the 2010s.”
Up until now, there have been live stage musicals, animated features, and other media based on the hit manga property along with millions of copies in circulation. The latest animated feature in the IP, last year’s My Hero Academia: The Movie – World Heroes’ Mission, became the highest-grossing movie of the franchise at the time, reaching 3 billion yen in its seventh week.
Sato’s credits also include The Princess Blade, Library Wars, Bleach (which is also avaialble on Netflix) and Inuyashiki.