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Gintama: The Movie (劇場版銀魂新訳紅桜篇)

Gintama: The Movie (劇場版銀魂新訳紅桜篇, Gekijōban Gintama: Shin'yaku Benizakura-hen) is a 2010 Japanese animated film by Sunrise that restructures the well-received television episode "Benizakura Arc" with a new interpretation. It was the first theatrical film based on the Gintama TV anime series, itself adapted from Hideaki Sorachi's science-fiction period comedy manga serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 2003, and it was distributed in Japan by Warner Bros. Pictures on April 24, 2010.¹^•²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Japanese release	April 24, 2010, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures; home video released by Aniplex⁴
Source material	A new-interpretation restructuring of the TV episode "Benizakura Arc" (紅桜篇)¹
Director and studio	Shinji Takamatsu, Sunrise; supervising director Yoichi Fujita, script by Akatsuki Yamatoya, character design by Shinji Takeuchi⁴
Runtime	96 minutes per the Japanese Film Database; the Australian classification record lists 91 minutes¹^•⁵
Opening performance	90 screens nationwide; 160,000 admissions and about ¥200 million in the first two days, debuting at #4 on the attendance ranking⁶
Final box office	¥1.07 billion in Japan, 28th among 2010's Japanese films⁷
Main voice cast	Tomokazu Sugita, Daisuke Sakaguchi, and Rie Kugimiya¹
Theme song	"Bakuchi Dancer" by DOES⁸

Spoilers

Story and setting

The film is set in an alternate end-of-Edo-period Japan in which, instead of the black ships, spaceships arrived carrying the Amanto (天人), invaders from space. After decades of war between the aliens and the people of Earth, Amanto civilization took root in Edo. A sword ban imposed by the Amanto left the silver-haired samurai Sakata Gintoki without his blade, and he now runs the Yorozuya odd-jobs shop, resolving the town's various troubles.³

The plot centers on a killer stalking Edo with the cursed sword Benizakura (紅桜), a demonic weapon that houses an artificial intelligence, parasitizes its wielder, and evolves by accumulating combat data. The Joui patriot Kotaro Katsura disappears after being cut down by the blade, and at the request of his companion Elizabeth, the Yorozuya members Gintoki, Kagura, and Shinpachi search for him. The sword's wielder turns out to be Takasugi Shinsuke, Gintoki's former comrade from the war years, who has revived the strongest fighting band, the Kiheitai, and now turns his blade against Gintoki and Katsura as well.⁴^•¹

The Benizakura arc was a popular episode of the television series, and the film reconfigures it with a new interpretation while keeping the setting of an Edo whose values have been transformed by the alien occupation.¹

Production

Sunrise produced the film with Shinji Takamatsu as director and Yoichi Fujita as supervising director. Akatsuki Yamatoya wrote the screenplay, and Shinji Takeuchi handled character design and overall animation direction. The producers were Fukashi Azuma and Hiromitsu Higuchi.⁴^•⁵

Producer Hiromitsu Higuchi later recalled that producing the film while keeping the TV series running in parallel was difficult, since the movie was made by a separate staff from the television team.⁹

Release and box office

The film opened on April 24, 2010 on 90 screens nationwide, with sold-out first days across the country. In its first two days it drew 160,000 admissions and about ¥200 million, debuting at fourth place on the attendance ranking, and business continued through the Golden Week holiday. By June 7, when the release had expanded to 66 additional screens, Warner Bros. announced that box office receipts had passed the ¥1 billion mark.⁶^•¹⁰

The final Japanese gross was ¥1.07 billion, placing the film 28th among all Japanese releases of 2010.⁷ Box Office Mojo records a Japanese gross of $10,405,400 and a small Taiwanese release on October 16, 2010, for a worldwide total of $10,453,259.¹¹ In Pia's satisfaction survey of films opening April 23 and 24, 2010, the film ranked first, with the magazine noting its popularity among women as well as men.¹² Internationally, the film screened at the Fantasia International Film Festival in July 2010,¹³ and the Australian Classification Board rated the DVD MA 15+ for strong animated violence in May 2012.⁵

Home video and later films

Aniplex released the DVD on December 15, 2010; the limited-edition DVD sold 96,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number one on Oricon's overall weekly DVD chart. A Blu-ray edition followed on June 26, 2013.¹⁴^•¹⁵

The film was followed by further theatrical Gintama anime films listed by Aniplex: Gekijōban Gintama Kanketsu-hen: Yorozuya yo Eien Nare (2013) and Gintama: The Final (2021).¹⁵^•¹⁶ A new theatrical film, Shin Gekijōban Gintama: Yoshiwara Dai Enjō (released internationally as Gintama: Yoshiwara in Flames), a remake of the Yoshiwara arc covering episodes 139 to 146 marking the anime's 20th anniversary, was released in Japan on February 13, 2026.¹⁷^•¹⁸ That film debuted at second place on the weekend attendance ranking, against the fourth-place opening of the Benizakura film in 2010.¹⁹

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026

Gintama: The Movie (劇場版銀魂新訳紅桜篇)

Spoilers

Story and setting

Production

Release and box office

Home video and later films

References

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Gintama: The Movie (劇場版 銀魂 新訳紅桜篇)

Spoilers

Story and setting

Production

Release and box office

Home video and later films

References

Gintama: The Movie (劇場版銀魂新訳紅桜篇)