Monday, December 07, 2009

Ultra Galaxy Premiere


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: