Funimation Films has opened up advance ticket sales for the English dub release of The Empire of Corpses. The first in a three-part movie series based on novels by award-winning writer Project Itoh and directed by Ryotaro Makihara, the film will screen in more than 50 theaters across the United States on April 19 and 20.
“Moviegoers will be transported to Itoh’s steampunk vision of an alternate 19th century world occupied by Frankenstein-like laborers,” said Mike DuBoise, EVP and COO of Funimation. “Anime and sci-fi fans alike won’t want to miss this limited, two-day theatrical release and we encourage them to purchase tickets in advance.”
Project Itoh is the pseudonym of popular Japanese sci-fi writer Satoshi Ito. His first novel, Genocidal Organ, was published in 2007 and followed in 2009 by Harmony, which won that years Japanese Science Fiction Grand Prize. Itoh’s promising career was cut short after three years when he died of cancer at age 34. Two of his works — a novelization of Metal Gear Solid 4 and The Empire of Corpses — were published posthumously.
The anime adaptation of The Empire of Corpses was produced by indie animation house WIT STUDIO (Attack on Titan, Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign), which was founded by Production I.G producer George Wada in 2012.
Film synopsis:
In an alternate version of 19th century London, the world has been revolutionized by “corpse reanimation technology” creating armies of undead who serve the living as laborers across the globe. In an attempt to revive his dearly departed friend, young medical student John Watson becomes obsessed with replicating the work of Dr. Victor Frankenstein—the legendary corpse engineer whose research produced the only re-animated corpse to possess a soul. But when his illegal experiments put him at odds with the British government, Watson is drafted into a worldwide race to find the lost research notes of Victor Frankenstein before the secrets of the human soul fall into the wrong hands.
