The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms made a surprise appearance on the streaming charts last week. The film recently debuted on Prime in Japan and has since climbed to be the second-most popular movie in the market, and is having an effect on global charts. FlixPatrol reports The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms is the eighth-most popular film on Prime today.
Written and directed by Yuichi Fukuda, the film is a comedic retelling of the Records of the Three Kingdoms — Chinese texts recounting the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 CE).
An ensemble cast, led by Yo Oizumi as the warlord Liu Bei, stumbles through the clashing of the Wei, Shu, and Wu kingdoms. Perhaps Oizumi’s most memorable role in the US was as the Japanese voice of Bandai Gaeru, aka No Face, in Spirited Away. You can get an idea of the kind of humor the film is going for in this fan translation of the trailer below.
Released in December 2020, the film was a success given the state of theaters during the pandemic, grossing just over ¥4 billion (or $36 million). That said, it doesn’t seem like distributor Toho is going to be bringing this B-film overseas anytime soon.
