'One Piece' Creator Opens Up About New 'Stampede' Film

One Piece has become one of anime's defining titles, and the shonen series is far from over. Eiichiro Oda has plans yet for the iconic series, and the artist just opened up about the next film that will join the One Piece canon next year.

This weekend, Japan was taken over by Jump Festa, and the annual event saw Oda share his thoughts on One Piece: Stampede. The artist shared a written message with fans at this year's convention, and it was there Oda gave fans a very vague hint about the movie.

"You may have already about this, but we'll make a new film in 2019! The title is Stampede!! Cool! I wanna see it soon! But I'm not allowed to reveal info about the content of the film, so I'd like to give you a hint. That's a film that we can create due to the 20th anniversary," the artist teased. (via Sandman AP)

"I would not allow the staff to make such an entertaining film unless the One Piece anime entered its 20th anniversary next year. I talked to the staff during several meetings asking 'Are you going to end One Piece!?', but I finally approved the idea since 2019 will be [the show's] anniversary year. I bet you can't help but see it in theaters! Look forward to the film and have fun with the 20th anniversary!"

So far, Oda is on the money about the film and secrecy. There are very few details out about the film aside from its title and key visual. The big movie is set to debut in Japan in August 2019, so fans can look forward to seeing what Monkey D. Luffy will have in store for them then.

Will you be tuning into this film next year...? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Eiichiro Oda's One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has since been collected into over 80 volumes, and has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best-selling manga series worldwide with over 430 million copies sold. The series still ranked number one in manga sales in 2018, which surprised fans of major new entries.