Amin Abbas

Empire Movies & Sony Pictures released the latest live action movie ‘Knights of the Zodiac’ (known in Japan as Saint Seiya: The Beginning) in cinemas in the Middle East on May 25. The movie is based on Saint Seiya franchise by Japanese manga artist Masami Kurumada.

‘Knights of the Zodiac’ was released in English language with Arabic subtitles. The movie was released in Latin America on April 27, on April 28 in Japan and it was released in the United States on May 12.

The movie story centers on Seiya, a headstrong street teen, spends his time fighting for cash while he searches for his abducted sister. When one of his fights unwittingly taps into mystical powers, he never knew he had, Seiya finds himself thrust into a world of warring saints, ancient magical training and a reincarnated goddess who needs his protection. If he’s to survive, he will need to embrace his destiny and sacrifice everything to take his rightful place among the Knights of the Zodiac.

The movie stars Mackenyu (Seiya), Famke Janssen, Madison Iseman, Diego Tinoco, Mark Dacascos, Nick Stahl, Sean Bean and it was directed by Tomek Bagiński.

Saint Seiya author Masami Kurumada wanted to adapt it to a live-action film almost as long as he worked on the manga, and in 2016, Toei Animation first revealed that such an adaptation was in development at CCXP. 

Toei later gave the film an official green-light in May 2017 with Tomasz Bagiński directing. It was originally to be a co-production with Sony Pictures and Chinese company A Really Good Film Company, who would later drop out. 

The original screenplay was adapted by Josh Campbell and Matt Stuecken, with later additions by Kiel Murray. The main cast was announced in September 2021, including Mackenyu, Madison Iseman, Sean Bean, Diego Tinoco, Famke Janssen, Nick Stahl, and Mark Dacascos. The theme song is “Courage” by Pink, originally from her album Hurts 2B Human.

Filming took place between July and September 2021 in Hungary, and the production had a budget of $60 million. Andy Cheng provided the fight and stunt coordination.