On September 24th, it was announced that a new live-action movie will be released based on Higashino Keigo's popular novel series 'Tantei Galileo' titled 'Manatsu no Houteishiki' (lit. 'Midsummer Formula'). The story for the movie will be based on the series' sixth and latest installment of the same name, which was serialized in the 'Shukan Bunshun' in 2010 and released as a separate volume in June 2011. The protagonist, 'Yukawa Manabu' will once again be played by singer-actor Fukuyama Masaharu, while Nishitani Hiroshi will direct again as well.

The 'Galileo' live-action series has spawned a very successful TV drama, a special drama and a very successful movie titled 'Yougisha X no Kenshin' (international title: 'The Devotion of Suspect X'), which grossed 4,920,000,000 Yen ($63 million USD), five years ago.

Filming for the upcoming movie already began on the 23rd in the prefecture of Shizuoka. Fukuyama commented, "Both I and Yukawa Manabu have aged over the years and, together with the producer and director, we are currently working on how to depict the progress in the right way."

The physicist 'Yukawa Manabu' is as much of a genius as he is eccentric. In the previous movie he "faced off" against the equally ingenious mathematician 'Ishigami' (Tsutsumi Shinichi). This time he has to spend the summer at a beautiful seaside town called Harugaura with the 10-year-old 'Esaki Kyouhei', although we all know that 'Yukawa' isn't exactly fond of children.

At this town's so-called 'untouched' coast, there are plans for advancing with a development project to extract mineral resources from the bottom of the sea. 'Yukawa' has been invited for an explanatory meeting and is residing at a ryokan (Japanese inn) called 'Ryokugansou'. There he happens to meet 'Kyouhei', who has to stay at his aunt's ryokan during the midsummer. The following morning, the dead body of another guest, 'Tsukahara Masatsugu', is being discovered at the embankment near the harbor - and one thing is for certain, it was no natural death.

The movie's main theme is the advancement of science and with it, the subsequent destruction of the natural environment. Producer Suzuki Yoshihiro explained, "The original novel was written before the earthquake, but it clearly depicts a problem we Japanese have been dealing with for the past year and half. In the previous installments, physician Yukawa appealed to the people that with science also comes hope, but what is he going to tell them now?"

Fukuyama himself added, "The question Yukawa has to think about and answer this time is whether nature and mankind can live together in a symbiosis. It's also a very interesting topic for me personally." He continued, "I'm looking forward to meet everyone again as a slightly progressed Yukawa Manabu, but at the same time I'm having my own thoughts about the topic at hand. I'd like to proceed with the filming while carefully thinking about this matter."

The supporting cast for 'Manatsu no Houteishiki' has yet to be announced by distributor Toho, but it's slated for a release in the early summer of 2013.

Another big movie with Fukuyama in the starring role, directed by famed Koreeda Hirokazu, is also scheduled for 2013.

Source: eiga.com

Thanks to Riley for the tip!