Gintama Film Heads to Italian Cinemas After Lucca Preview
The anime film Gintama: Yoshiwara in Flames has been previewed at Lucca Comics & Games, ahead of its theatrical release in Italy. The festival, which Variety describes as Europe's largest Comic-Con, drew the film's director and producer to talk about how it was made.
The film comes from a long-running franchise. Gintama began as a manga written and drawn by Hideaki Sorachi, and it grew into a 367-episode anime television series. Yoshiwara in Flames is the fourth cinema outing for the series, following three earlier big-screen spin-offs.
Director Naoya Andô and producer Ryo Nakamuray spoke with Variety about the film's look. Andô said the team used CinemaScope, an ultrawide frame, and 3D so the camera could move more and the shots could vary more. The film opened in Japan in February, and Andô said it was later retouched in more than 200 shots for a new version and a DVD release.
The Japanese premiere date of 13 February 2026 was announced with a new trailer and poster in December 2025, according to Crunchyroll. Cinema chain GSC later advertised the film for its screens from 11 June 2026, in a post on its Facebook page. Those dates cover markets outside Italy, where the Italian title is Gintama the Movie 2026: Yoshiwara in Fiamme. Dynit, the distributor, is presenting the film's national premiere at Lucca.
Lucca is also a busy stage for film and television this year, as the festival marks its 60th anniversary. Its movie programme includes a preview of the third season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which Disney+ will release exclusively on 20 November. Lead actors Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri are due to attend the festival for the first time.
Other stops on the movie programme include Lucky Red's opening event for Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, which marks the 50th anniversary of Aardman Studios, and a screening of the first Fast & Furious film to mark its 25th anniversary, from Universal Pictures. Paramount+ is bringing the second season of Dexter: Resurrection with a screening and a fan experience in the festival's Piazza Anfiteatro.
For anime fans, the festival's line-up is a useful map of where the medium is heading in Italy. Crunchyroll will premiere the first two episodes of Shangri-La Frontier Season 3 at Lucca, and CD PROJEKT RED will hold a panel on Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2. Lucca is a place where studios and distributors can show films and series to the people most likely to buy tickets, and this year's Gintama preview fits that pattern.
