Yesterday was the premiere of the new Ultraman movie MEGA MONSTER BATTLE: ULTRA GALAXY. The premiere was held at the Lazona Plaza in Kawasaki, a city located between Tokyo and Yokohama.
I was invited to attend by Warner Bros. in order to cover the event for SciFiJapan.com (some of my photos and a short write-up of the event are now online: http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2009/12/06/mega-monster-battle-ultra-galaxy-premiere-event/).
After several days of intense cold and heavy rain, yesterday saw bright blue skies without a cloud in sight, and while the air was still quite cool, the sun provided enough warmth that I decided to leave my jacket at home (in December. Crazy!)
Prior to the screening, a live stage show was held outside in the central plaza from 2:00pm. I arrived around 1:30pm and managed to somehow walk straight past the press reception that was right in front of me. After making one of the poor Warner guys lead me there, I was given some papers with the schedule for the day, a copy of the press book, Mike Verta's soundtrack CD, MISIA's single CD, and another disc with some promotional photos.
Soon after I grabbed my spot in front of the stage. I was stuck in the far left corner, which hampered my ability to capture some of the more important moments, but think I still managed to get some pretty good shots in. I just had to make the best of the situation. The show lasted around half an hour, during which time I believe the circulation in my left leg ceased completely from all the kneeling. It was actually quite painful for the remainder of the day.The premiere screening itself took place from 4:00pm in the 109 CINEMAS on the 5th floor of the Lazona. This was again proceeded by a half-hour introduction from the cast, this time joined by director Koichi Sakamoto. My otherwise lovely day was ruined around this point, as I somehow managed to lose my favourite camera lens, which cost me around $300.
ULTRA GALAXY TV Spot:
