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Twelve years after its Japanese release, the action flick arrives in the U.S. at a fortuitous moment.

Toei Company

For years, it’s been easier to buy a t-shirt for Kinji Fukasaku’s blood-soaked drama Battle Royale than it’s been to legally see the movie in America. never officially released in the U.S., the 12-year-old Japanese film has only appeared here in special theatrical showings a decade apart—plus on Netflix, Amazon, and cruddy VHS tapes.

All that changes today, when Anchor Bay releases the film for the first time ever on DVD in the U.S, including in a 4-Blu-Ray/DVD package with the theatrical and director’s cuts, the more politically provocative sequel Battle Royale II, and a bonus disc of documentaries and ephemera. The elaborate extras signal a clear bid to capitalize on the film’s fervent stateside fan base. “I’ve been seeing [Battle Royale] T-shirts at ComicCon for 10 years,” says Anchor Bay executive director of marketing Kevin Carney. “So the wider horror/manga/comic demo is aware of the film. Even if they might not have seen it, they know of it.”

“Our release strategy is extremely focused around the anticipation for ‘The Hunger Games,’” says an Anchor Bay rep. Indeed, Battle Royale‘s fame, when compared to similar films, is unmatched. there were a number of equally remarkable Japanese movies made within a few years of Battle Royale, such as Takeshi Kitano’s Hana-bi and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Pulse. no one has released 4-Blu-Ray sets of them, and today they remain largely forgotten here. Why has Battle Royale lived on?

Part of the answer may lie in its aura of outlaw chic. The movie depicts near-future dystopia in which a dictatorial Japan controls its rebellious youth by selecting a high school class, sending it to an island, and forcing the students to kill one other. Released in 2000, it made an instant impact in Japan, where it was banned to children under 15. There’s been a persistent rumor that Battle Royale was officially banned by the U.S. government as well. this is nonsense, but even Anchor Bay’s press release alludes to it, although it blames “civic groups” for keeping the film off the American market.

Untrue as they may be, rumors of U.S. censorship are telling. Fans want to believe there’s something dangerous about the movie. new York Asian Film Festival programmer Grady Hendrix says he’s seen the phenomenon before. “Just like saying ‘banned in China’ helps a small art film, saying ‘banned’ helps raise interest,” he says. “We’ve done it for the festival. People want to see things they’re not supposed to see. It’s smart marketing.” In the case of Battle Royale, the fans themselves did most of this marketing.

And why shouldn’t they? It’s a good movie. The plot plays out like William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies in reverse, in that relatively innocent teenagers are forced by adults to commit violence. despite the sci-fi trappings, Fukasaku based it on his experiences as a teenage soldier during World War II. The film’s depiction of adolescents is fairly realistic, showing them forming emotional bonds minutes before turning on each other. one imagines that its youthful audience can picture themselves in its characters’ shoes.

Battle Royale‘s story originated as a novel by Koushun Takami and has also been adapted into a manga. its various authors excelled at creating a world that’s both frightening and seductive. In turn, fan fiction sites have proliferated online; one offers an American-set rewrite of the story. Hendrix sees this as a fitting tribute to Fukasaku, who made Battle Royale at age 70. “He wanted his last film to have legs,” Hendrix says. “It’s great that people have that kind of relationship with the movie. he wanted to make a film that could compete with video games and television and appeal to teenagers.”

many have speculated that Battle Royale‘s influence extended to Suzanne Collins, author of the popular novel The Hunger Games, which also depicts teenagers being forced to kill each other under a tyrannical government. For her part, Collins swears innocence. It’s true that the basic plot extends as far back as The Most Dangerous Game, made in 1932; Battle Royale‘s innovation was staging the murderous “game” with teenagers.

Anchor Bay is consciously capitalizing on the release on the film adaptation of The Hunger Games. “I enjoyed the [The Hunger Games] novel and genuinely hope the films do well, but it obviously was influenced by Battle Royale,” Carney says. “So our release strategy is extremely focused around the anticipation for The Hunger Games, especially for the single disc release. The core fan-base is already well-aware of the 4-disc box set as pre-orders have been strong since we announced, whereas the single disc version is being targeted specifically towards fans of the new franchise. The DVD artwork focuses on two characters with weapons, similar to some of the Hunger Games key art”

Which means that now that The Hunger Games has brought dystopia to our shores, it’s possible that the American cult audience for Battle Royale has only begun forming.

Video •Adult fans of “Hunger Games” who want an especially twisted version of the upcoming movie (in theaters March 23) might consider checking out the violent and brutal Japanese action movie, “Battle Royale.”

Released on video for the first time in the U.S., “Battle Royale” is a vicious cult hit about a group of junior high students who are forced to fight each other to the death on a remote island. Released in 2000, long before Suzanne Collins made it big with her Hunger Games triology, “Battle Royale” is a perverse and suspenseful adventure for fans of Japanese pop cinema.

The Blu-ray and DVD versions include director’s and theatrical cuts of the movie in both Japanese and English languages as well a bevy of extras about the making of the movie.

Copyright 2012 the Salt Lake Tribune. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The sight of Cee Lo Green wearing a Red Baron costume, complete with World War I era flying medal, can only mean one thing. The Battle Round of The Voice is upon us! and so it began last night with six incredibly drawn-out vocal sparring matches. Not just between the contestants, but their celebrity mentors as well. Nothing says “battle” like Jewel and Lionel Richie training aspiring artists to belt out “The Power of love.”

Battle #1: Tony Lucca vs. Chris Cauley (Team Adam)

Alanis Morissette had Tony Lucca’s back going into his showdown with fellow husky-voiced busker Cauley. they were to sing U2′s “Beautiful Day,” which really should have been retired from the repertoires of all singing competitions following Kurt Nilsen’s definitive World Idol take, shouldn’t it? Both dudes rocked appropriately cool headgear over their spiky hair, but Tony had the edge right away by trading in his Mellow Dad look for full-on Justin Theroux-in-Mulholland Drive hipsterism. (A daring move, considering how Theroux’s Mulholland Drive character is cuckolded by Billy Ray Cyrus, who could easily have been a celebrity mentor on The Voice last night.) Both Tony and Chris belted the hell out of “Beautiful Day,” bowling themselves over and crouching just to emphasize their respective vocal acrobatics. Ultimately, Tony won, but I was surprised he didn’t quite have the upper register needed to properly tackle U2′s skyscraper falsettos. That said, Chris may have stolen the night with one of the classiest reality show exits I’ve ever heard when he said to Adam, “I’ve always respected you for your music. and now I respect you as a man, as well.”

Aside: Judging the Judges’ Fashion

As I do most Monday nights, I totally dug Cee Lo’s ensemble. but his Red Baron look was positively sedate compared to what Adam and Christina were wearing. Adam decided to sport a high-collared, check-patterned sweater that I’m sure Gabriel Mann’s Nolan Ross will wear on the next episode of Revenge. who else absolutely thinks Adam had topsiders on under that table? and Christina donned some sort of flying-saucer pillbox hat. Where to look?!

NEXT: RaeLynn meets her idol Miranda Lambert. and Lionel Richie becomes an opera critic!

Moviehole’s Tribute Enters the Arena…

Directed by Gary Ross (“Seabiscuit”), “The Hunger Games” is tedious, predictable film based on the young adult novel by Suzanne Collins, who also co-wrote the film’s screenplay with Ross and screenwriter Billy Ray.

“The Hunger Games” takes place after the destruction of the United States by an unknown apocalyptic event, in a nation known as Panem. Panem consists of a wealthy, futuristic Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts. District 12, where the story begins, is located in the coal-rich region that was formerly Appalachia. [Here's a fun fact, I'm actually from the region where District 12 is located... and even after the apocalypse it looks relatively the same]

Every year one boy and one girl from each district between the ages of 12 and 18 are selected randomly to participate in the Hunger Games, an event in which the participants (or “tributes”) must fight in an outdoor arena controlled by the Capitol, until only one remains.

The film follows District 12‘s 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), who volunteers for the 74th annual Hunger Games in place of her younger sister, Primrose (Willow Shields).

Also selected from District 12 is Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), who plays the stereotypical insecure, more emotional male character in an inevitable romantic triangle between Katniss and chiseled he-man Gale (Liam Hemsworth).

“The Hunger Games” is a restrained, futuristic vision of a desperate, broken world where children kill each other for entertainment – and yet I left the theater completely unaffected. Director Gary Ross has perhaps made a movie that is too restrained, as it failed to evoke any emotion or excitement during it’s 142 minutes.

It’s tedious, boring and entirely predictable. Films like “Death Race 2000,” and “The Running Man” set the stage for post-apocalyptic gladiator games, but “The Hunger Games” borrows most from Kinji Fukasaku’s 2000 film, “Battle Royale,” where (after an economic collapse) the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary Battle Royale Act.

In both films, teenagers are given survival gear and weapons and sent to a lethal, controlled battlefield where they must kill each other off. every morning music is played (in both films) and the fallen competitors are listed. In both films the competitors monitored and tracked to prevent them from leaving the futuristic arena.

The difference is, “Battle Royale” is a fantastic, exciting film that isn’t afraid to embrace its subject matter and explore the depths of such a reality. “The Hunger Games” is a young adult novel turned into a pre-teen movie, a PG-13 flick where children are killed and the impact isn’t felt because the filmmaking is so sterile and the story is so incredibly generic.

At the press screening I attended, the host of the event asked the audience “OK, so are ya’ll Team Peeta or Team Gale?” and it was at that moment I realized what I had stumbled into – that it didn’t matter how good “The Hunger Games” was. It was created in the mold of a successful string of young adult fiction that was simply too big to fail.

From the box office successes of “Harry Potter” and “Twilight,” “The Hunger Games” was pre-destined to make hundreds of millions of dollars, regardless of the quality of the film itself.

The influence of young adult fiction film adaptations were probably a direct result of Collins’ decision to take her successful novel and create a trilogy. I have no doubt that the final book will be split up into “The Hunger Games Saga: Mockingjay part I” and “The Hunger Games Saga: Mockingjay part II” to further take advantage of this successful business model.

While the acting was completely acceptable, Jennifer Lawrence and Stanely Tucci are great, the characters are one-dimensional and just as predictable as the story they’re trapped in. Katniss is a perfectly fine character, but she’s a far cry from Lt. Ellen Ripley, who I still consider to be the bar that all female heroins aspire to.

Final Thoughts:

This is one of those unfortunate cases where the soundtrack “inspired by” the film is infinitely better than the film itself. if you’ve read the books, then you’ve just wasted your time reading my opinion – because you’ll no doubt be there on opening night in your Team Peeta shirt squealing with delight. if you’re interested in watching a definitive film instead of a pre-teen tiger beat flick, save your money and pick up “Battle Royale” on Blu-ray.