Yu-Gi-Oh, The Movie

BECAUSE THERE JUST AREN’T ENOUGH MOVIES BASED ON CARD GAMES

Warner Bros. is hoping to match the success of its “Pokemon” pics with a film based on its latest Japanese animated import, “Yu-Gi-Oh.”

The “Yu-Gi-Oh” franchise is handled by “Pokemon” licensing agent 4Kids and is being produced by 4Kids Prods. president Norman Grossfeld. Warner Bros. is in negotiations to acquire worldwide distribution rights (excluding Asia) to the film, which is currently in production in Japan.

“Yu-Gi-Oh” has already spawned trading cards, toys and vidgames that are selling briskly on these shores, as well as a hit TV show for the Kids’ WB Saturday kidtoon lineup.

Franchise is based on a Japanese comicbook about a boy who gains magical powers and transforms into Yu-Gi-Oh (roughly translated: Master of Games) when he plays a card game involving dueling monsters.

“Yu-Gi-Oh” is aimed at kids 10 and older — a slightly older demographic than “Pokemon.”

Stateside release of the pic is expected next summer, and Warner Bros. will be giving away collectible trading cards with movie tickets via a promotional tie-in.

The “Pokemon” franchise is estimated to have raked in close to $15 billion worldwide. WB released the first three of the four “Pokemon” pics — “Pokemon: The First Movie” which grossed $85.7 million domestically on release in 1999; “Pokemon: The Movie 2000,” which took $43.8 million domestically; and “Pokemon 3: The Movie,” $17.1 million domestically. Miramax Films’ “Pokemon: The 4th Movie” grossed only $1.7 million theatrically.

Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman is overseeing the pic and will conclude a final deal within the next two weeks with 4Kids Entertainment CEO Alfred Kahn and Grossfeld.

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NOTE TO COMMENTERS:

Recently someone claiming to be “Dan Green”, who does voice talent for the Yu-Gi-Oh cartoon as well as the upcoming animated film and many other popular anime series & movies, started posting comments on the Yu-Gi-Oh Movie article I had posted a few months back. At first I played along, thinking it may actually be a semi-celebrity who found my website and wanted to connect with fans.

I let it go for about two weeks, until I noticed that another person named “Eric Stuart”, another voice talent for Yu-Gi-Oh, started posting. I would have believed it, except that the commenter forgot to read the fine print right above the “Post” button: ALL IP’S ARE LOGGED. That means that when you post, I get an email with your name, email, and IP address, as well as the comment you make.

When “Dan Green” and “Eric Stuart” shared the exact same IP Address, I knew something was up. So I posted a comment myself, asking for “Dan Green” to contact me via email to conduct an interview about his work on anime. It’s a logical question, and it would prove to me if it was the real deal or not. If so, I get my first celebrity interview. If not, I get to squish a pimply faced teenager with too much time on his hands. I received no response for several days (he had been commenting about every day for two weeks).

Then today, I get about 15 new posts on the article. They are either from “Dan Green” or “Eric Stuart”, all from the same IP address. “Dan” states that he cannot email me because he doesn’t like to give his email address out. Then between the hours of 6:05pm and 7:15pm he posted his comments. In fact he even goes to the length to post a comment as “yugiohperson” (from the same IP, of course) asking if he is faking it or is the “real Dan Green”. Of course minutes later he replies to himself.

Now, and if i’m wrong it’s extremely sad, but why would an actual celebrity, albeit a small one, be posting on my extremely sheltered website every day for weeks? And if he actually was that person, why would they try to prove it by posting as other people?

Sorry, dude. Not believing it, and i’m not going to let you continue to post and lie to the visitors of this website. I am careful to only post valid confirmed information, not rumors and speculation, and that certainly does not include impersonation.

And lastly, get a freakin’ life. Have you really so little friends that you feel the need to lie to anonymous strangers on an entertainment blog? If so, that’s really really sad. You really should get out more.

Commenting is closed on this article. Blame “Dan Green.”