It was revealed on September 28th that the popular soccer manga "Blue Lock," currently serialized in "Weekly Shonen Magazine" (Kodansha), will be adapted into a live-action movie. Filming will begin in mid-September and the movie will be released in the summer of 2026, the year of the World Cup. The movie will be produced by CREDEUS, a production company known for the live-action series "Kingdom," "Golden Kamuy," "The Silent Service," and "National Treasure."
"Blue Lock" is a manga written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and illustrated by Yusuke Nomura, which has been serialized in "Weekly Shonen Magazine" since 2018. It follows the launch of a national project called Blue Lock(Blue Prison) to create an "absolute ace striker" who can lead Japan to victory in the FIFA World Cup, and the 300 high school students who are gathered together to fight. The unique characters and innovative setting of the story, depicting a battle royale in which the 300 strikers fight for survival, have made it popular. The total number of copies of the comics published has exceeded 50 million.
The anime series also gained popularity, with the first season airing from October 2022 to March 2023. The animated feature film "Blue Lock: Episode Nagi" was released in April 2024 and was a hit, grossing 1.8 billion yen and attracting over 1.32 million viewers. The second season of the anime series aired from October to December 2024 on TV Asahi's anime slot "IMAnimation." It was also announced that a new anime series, a sequel to the second season, would be produced.
Regarding the live-action film adaptation, Kaneshiro commented, "The real Blue Lock is about to begin! Who will play Kiyoshi?! What about Horaku?! What about Nagi?! What about Blue Rock Man?! What about Natto?! There are many things you're probably wondering about, but the production team is more egocentric than ever before and is making this with love for ' Blue Lock'! Please stay tuned for further news!"
Nomura said, "Blue Lock is being made into a live-action movie! We are having exciting daily meetings with the production staff, who are even more passionate and egoistic than we are, and are also very meticulous. Please look forward to seeing what the chemical reaction between Blue Lock and live-action will produce!"
Shinzo Matsuhashi, CEO of Mel CREDEUS, who is working on the live-action film, said, "We were fascinated by the passion of the original work and the original story that is so typical of Japanese manga, so we launched the project and began full-scale development in 2022. When writing the script, we worked closely with Professor Kaneshiro and Professor Nomura, and had many discussions."
When adapting the film into live-action, the studio placed great importance on the realism of the cast, who could embody the ego of the fascinating characters, and showed great commitment to the casting, saying, "We held large-scale auditions with over 1,000 people, including the lead actor, and placed emphasis on soccer experience, looks, acting ability, and humanity."
"The cast members have been practicing under the guidance of professional soccer players for about a year and a half before filming began, and have transformed into ``egoists'' just like those in the original. Everyone is pushing each other to improve and is approaching filming with great enthusiasm. We will cherish what the original has built up so far and thoroughly pursue expressive methods that can only be achieved through live-action, to deliver entertainment for a new era. Please look forward to it!" he said enthusiastically.
