PLANET PRINCE 2021: Minoru Kawasaki To Reboot Toei’s 1958 Tokusatsu Classic

Classic alien superhero IP Planet Prince is getting a feature film reboot according to Sci-Fi Japan.

Planet Prince 2021 is the current title for which Minoru Kawasaki, who is no stranger to out-of-this-world creature lore and zany monster spectacle with films like The World Sinks Except Japan, The Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit, Monster Seafood Wars and Daikaiju Mono, has been tapped to direct. Kawasaki is also penning the script with Akihiko Kikawa, based on an original screenplay by late auteur Masaru Igami whose DNA with the franchise stretches as far back as the Planet Prince films, in addition to working on the Ultraman and Kamen Rider franchises to name a few.

The film is billed as a revisal of Toei company’s classic black-and-white Showa-era Nippon Gendai and Senkosha-produced tokusatsu series which lasted 49 episodes for its run from 1958 and onward; The show was created fittingly at the time to capitalize off of Super Giant which hailed from Toho’s non-union brand, Shintoho, around this period.

Toplining the new film is Sho Higano (Goodbye Newspaper, HiGH&LOW) who will don the new costume incarnation by mangaka, Kia Asamiya (Silent Möbius); Higano ultimately follows in the shoes of such  actors as Toshio Miura and Tatsuo Umemiya, the latter who reprised the role in two movies, both of which were compiled as one for the English-dubbed version, Prince Of Space (1962).

Also starring is up-and-comer, Japanese TikTok and YouTube idol Nana Oda who will stake her claim as the heroine, with more names to be announced in due time.

Image Source: Amazon.ca

Lee B. Golden III

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Native New Yorker. Lover of all things pizza, chocolate, pets, and good friends. Karaoke hero. Left of center. Survivor. Fond supporter of cult, obscure and independent cinema - especially fond of Asian movies and global action cinema. Author of the bi-weekly Hit List. Founder and editor of Film Combat Syndicate. Still, very much, only human.