Paris-based sales company Goodfellas has released the first images from Toho’s science-fiction thriller “Leviathan” and will show a promotional reel at the American Film Market this month, opening international sales on a live-action manga adaptation set to reach Japanese theaters Feb. 11, 2027.
Goodfellas handles every territory outside Asia. The film, still in post-production, adapts Shiro Kuroi’s best-selling manga. It takes place in 2127 and follows students stranded in space after a catastrophic accident leaves their spacecraft drifting with scarce oxygen and a single working life-support system. The survivors fight each other for the limited air.
Shunsuke Michieda, who appeared in “Even If This Love Disappears From the World,” and Natsuki Deguchi, from “Look Back,” lead the cast. Michihito Fujii and Ryohei Shingu direct. Fujii shares screenplay credit with Izumi Takahashi and recently worked on Netflix’s “Last Samurai Standing.”
Toho arrives at the market with momentum. The studio has seen international success with “Exit 8,” which Neon acquired for release outside Japan, and with the long-running Godzilla franchise. Both showed that Japanese properties can find buyers and audiences far beyond their home market. A claustrophobic survival thriller drawn from a popular manga fits that pattern, and sales agents typically pitch such titles to genre-minded distributors who want ready-made fan bases.
Foreign buyers still face a question the early images cannot answer. Space-survival thrillers have a crowded history, and a promo reel from a film in post-production offers limited evidence of tone or effects quality. Goodfellas’ lineup suggests the company expects the project to draw interest. It also carries “Fjord,” the Cannes Palme d’Or winner and Romania’s Oscar entry, and Spain’s contender “La Bola Negra.” Both are reportedly sold out.
Neither Toho nor Goodfellas has disclosed a budget or named a target distribution window abroad. The AFM runs Nov. 10-15 in Los Angeles, where buyers will see the reel and, most likely, begin the bidding that sets the film’s reach beyond Asia.
