One Piece Film: Gold Coming To U.S. Theaters Next Year

Ahoy! Captain Luffy and his gang of pirates will be invading North American cinemas next year to debut One Piece Film: Gold in the U.S.

The film will be in select theaters from January 10-17. Currently, there is no word on when tickets will go on sale, but more information about specific showings will be released in the coming months.

This new project will be the 13th film in the long-running franchise. Gold, which debuted in Japan in July, has raked in more than $49 million overseas since its release. The film was directed by Hiroaki Miyamoto and produced by Toei Animation. It premiered in Abu Dhabi for a special event before debuting to Japanese audiences.

The film follows Monkey D. Luffy and his gang of Straw Hat Pirates during a visit to Gran Tesoro. The locale is a wealthy, independent country where well-known pirates, millionaires, and more gather to find sanctuary from the World Government. However the country's emperor finds himself overpowered by greed and ultimately takes actions to satisfy his desire for wealth, leading Luffy to fight back against the tyrant.

"We're confident that this film will create a new generation of fans for the franchise as well as grow the audience [in the United States and Canada] for its animated series," said Gen Fukunaga, CEO and president of Funimation, about the theatrical release.

Created in 1997, One Piece stands as one of Japan's most beloved manga/anime franchises in history. The anime has more than 750 episodes and is still in production. And, in August, more than 380 million print copies of One Piece had been sold worldwide, making it the best-selling manga of all time.

In fact, that manga has received a Guinness World Record commemorating its record-breaking length. Creator Eiichiro Oda was honored when the manga won a world record for most copies of singular comic book series published by one author. The writer spoke out about the award, saying, "Thank you for this certification for the Guinness World Record. Manga is an amusing way to pass time, but when I receive reports that say 'through One Piece I made friends,' or 'through One Piece I found my sweetheart,' I am really happy. I feel like this record number has the possibility to bring the same number of people together. I will not forget my predecessors in the manga world, the colleagues whom I work with, and my readers, and from now on I want to continue to draw a work that will not shame this record."

[H/T] IGN