The surprise sequel to the 2013 Keanu Reeves-led martial arts fantasy epic, 47 Ronin, has now been given a release date by Netflix. Titled Blade of the 47 Ronin, the follow-up is now scheduled to land on the streaming platform on October 25 (via DiscussingFilm) and will be set 300 years after the events of the first movie.
In case you missed them, a trailer and poster have also since been released (via Twitter) for Blade of the 47 Ronin, both of which tease the Samurai-style action and fantastical lore to come.
A sequel to 47 Ronin was announced back in August 2020, with Blade of the 47 Ronin due to be released some 9 years after the original outing. Directed by Ron Yuan, from a script co-written by John Swetnam, Aimee Garcia, and AJ Mendez, Blade of the 47 Ronin will not feature Keanu Reeves, or any of the actors from the original film, with the sequel hurtling into the future. Blade of the 47 Ronin will continue the story of ancient Japanese Rōnin warriors, picking up 300 years after 47 Ronin, and dropping audiences into a modern-day world where samurai clans exist in complete secrecy.
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Blade of the 47 Ronin will be led by Jupiter’s Legacy star Anna Akana with the supporting cast comprised of Teresa Ting, Mike Moh, Dustin Nguyen, Yoshi Sudarso, Chris Pang, and B-movie martial arts icon and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum star Mark Dacascos.
The Original 47 Ronin was a Costly Box Office Bomb
Netflix
The emergence of a sequel to 47 Ronin comes as a big surprise, considering that the original movie was a costly box office bomb. Based very loosely on the Japanese legend, the first 47 Ronin follows John Wick star Keanu Reeves as Kai, a half-Japanese, half-English outcast adopted by the household of Lord Asano, who joins the Ronin. When Lord Asano is punished for injuring rival Lord Kira and asked to commit seppuku, Kai and the other samurai realize that their master was not at fault and set out to seek revenge against Lord Kira.
47 Ronin was met with savage criticism upon release, who took aim at its one-dimensional characters and dull approach to the material. 47 Ronin grossed just $151 million against its total budget of $175 million, making it a box office bomb and one that left Universal in the red for the year. 47 Ronin was considered one of the biggest box office bombs of 2013, in fact, making it more surprising that a sequel has been greenlit all these years later.
47 Ronin has garnered a following in recent years, which is no doubt what led the studio to think that a sequel almost a decade later would be a good idea. If nothing else, director Ron Yuan cannot wait for audiences to see this cyber-punk, Samurai thrill ride. “I’m incredibly excited to be working with Universal and the producing team on this genre-blending, martial arts, action, horror and cyber-punk film,” the filmmaker said when the project was first announced. “This will be a fun, intense, supercharged thrill ride for viewers globally.”
Blade of the 47 Ronin is scheduled to be released on Digital and Blu-ray on October 25, 2022, and will be released via streaming as a Netflix Original Film.
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