Filipino fans of the classic hit anime turned live action movie Rurouni Kenshin will definitely rejoice as it was announced that SM Cinema will bring the movie to their theaters on October 17,2012 December 5, 2012.

Rurouni Kenshin is based on the hit manga by Watsuki Nobuhiro and later became an anime series produced by Aniplex and Fuji TV. The story revolves around Kenshin Himura, who was a former assassin that vowed to stop killing and protect the people of Japan by becoming a wanderer.

The film will be directed by Keishi Ōtomo and produced by Warner Bros. and Studio Swan and starring  Takeru Satoh as Kenshin, Munetaka Aoki as Sanosuke Sagara and Emi Takei as Kaoru. It was premiered in Japan last August 25,2012, and because of the success in Japan, Warner Bros. planned to release the movie worldwide in 64 different countries.

Warner Bros. Philippines mentioned that they don’t have the license for Rurouni Kenshin in the Philippines.

Movie Punch will be the official distributor of the Rurouni Kenshin movie Philippine release and from the past few days they were negotiating with Warner Bros. Japan for the approval of the license to bring the movie to the Philippines.

UPDATE 1: We just heard that SM Cinema are negotiating for the exhibitor rights for the film, although they also posted that their recent post is not yet official and they are still waiting for the ‘go signal’.

UPDATE 2 (9/12/12): It seems that the post from SM Cinema was removed and no further updates was announced, even Movie Punch has no update as well.

UPDATE 3 (9/13/12): According to the Movie Punch Facebook page, they are still waiting for the approval from the Japanese producers. Movie Punch’s president is still on abroad and he will be giving the announcement once he is finished with the negotiations. The October 17 is still a tentative schedule but they assured that SM Cinema will be their exclusive partner once they got the approval for the license.

UPDATE 4 (9/14/12): According to Interaksyon, SM Cinema responded on Twitter after fans asked for the certainty of the film’s local release. SM Cinema responded that the film will be shown nationwide and they will keep us posted for updates.

UPDATE 5 (9/20/12): As of today, there were no news from Movie Punch for any update on the local release of Rurouni Kenshin, even SM Cinema was suddenly quiet for several days. At this point, we are still unsure if the October 17 supposed release will push through or not.

UPDATE 6 (10/9/12): It looks like the release schedule has been moved, still no confirmation on the exact date. SM Cinema’s Fan Page had finally responded to some of the people’s inquiry about the movie.

UPDATE 7 (10/17/12): SM Cinema just posted an announcement on their Facebook page that they will still release the movie on their theaters, but they still need to finalize the schedule for the release.

Also, according to Anime PH, SM Cinema had some delay with the negotiation , but they finally confirmed that they will be screening the film exclusively. As for Movie Punch, they are now in the final stage of the negotiation, but it is still not confirmed if the probability of landing the deal is high or not.

UPDATE 8 (10/18/2012): SM Cinema has just announced the schedule for the movie, it will be on December 5, 2012, now that’s an early Christmas gift to Rurouni Kenshin fans.

For the screening schedules of Rurouni Kenshin, you may refer to this link:

 http://www.reimarufiles.com/2012/11/02/rurouni-kenshin-movie-screening-schedule/