General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Kingdom (キングダム) (2019 film)

Kingdom (キングダム) is a 2019 Japanese live-action action film directed by Shinsuke Sato, adapted from Yasuhisa Hara's manga of the same name set in China during the Warring States period. It follows Shin (Kento Yamazaki), a war orphan who dreams of becoming a great general, and the young king of Qin, Eisei (Ryo Yoshizawa), who looks identical to Shin's dead friend Hyou. Released in Japan on April 19, 2019, the 134-minute film earned ¥5.73 billion and became the highest-grossing Japanese live-action film of fiscal 2019, launching a continuing film series.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Japanese release	April 19, 2019; 134 minutes; action/adventure feature¹
Director and screenplay	Shinsuke Sato; screenplay by Tsutomu Kuroiwa, Sato, and original author Yasuhisa Hara¹
Main cast	Kento Yamazaki as Shin, Ryo Yoshizawa as Hyou/Eisei, Kanna Hashimoto as Karyoten, Masami Nagasawa as Youtanwa¹
Source manga	Serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump since 2006; 53 volumes and 38 million copies sold by 2019; Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize 2013³
Box office	¥5.73 billion, the highest of any Japanese live-action film in fiscal 2019²
Production companies	Shueisha, Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan), NTV; distributed by Toho and Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan)¹
Theme song	"Wasted Nights" by ONE OK ROCK⁴

Spoilers

Story and source material

The film adapts the opening of Hara Yasuhisa's manga, set in 245 B.C. in the western Chinese kingdom of Qin. Shin and Hyou, war orphans, train in sword fighting with the dream of becoming great generals. Hyou is taken to the royal palace as an attendant and loses his life in a battle; Shin then meets the young king of Qin, Eisei, who looks exactly like Hyou.¹ The two work to regain Eisei's throne after a rebellion, and Eisei becomes an ally on Shin's path to greatness; Eisei is the boy destined to become the Qin emperor.⁵

The manga began serialization in 2006, won the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2013, and had been collected into 53 volumes with 38 million copies sold by the time of the film; it had also spawned an anime series.³ Many characters are based on actual historical figures, but in both manga and film they have Japanese readings of their names: the historical king Ying Zheng becomes Eisei, the general Li Xin becomes Shin, and Zhao Chengjiao becomes Seikyou.³ Hara took part in writing the screenplay alongside Tsutomu Kuroiwa and Sato.¹

Sequels and series

A sequel was announced on May 29, 2020, with Sato, Yamazaki, Yoshizawa, Hashimoto, and screenwriter Hara all returning.⁹ The live-action series grew to four films, Kingdom (2019), Kingdom 2: Far and Away (2022), Kingdom: The Flame of Fate (2023), and Kingdom: Return of the Great General (2024), with cumulative admissions of 17.34 million and box office revenue exceeding ¥24.5 billion.¹³ A fifth film, Kingdom: The Battle of the Soul, was scheduled for release on July 17, 2026.¹³ The Busan International Film Festival's program notes describe the first film as giving Shin and Eisei equal screen time, with the sequel shifting focus to Shin and large-scale battle spectacle.¹⁴

Production and filming

Sato Shinsuke, previously known for the live-action adaptation I Am a Hero, directed the film.¹ Filming took place in China from April 8 to 27, 2018, and in Japan from April 30 to June 13, 2018.⁴ The climax was shot on a gigantic open set in Zhejiang, China, over three weeks, with 700 crew members from Japan and China, close to 100 horses, and some 10,000 extras.¹^•³ Sato said shooting in China was natural because the story takes place there, though costume conventions differed from what the production wanted, and some details could be fixed in ways a Japanese production alone might not have allowed.³

At a 2019 world premiere appearance, Sato described the film as an attempt to avoid the feel of a conventional historical drama and to preserve the rustic, violent texture of the manga in live action.⁶ Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, he said he approaches manga adaptations the way he approaches original stories, aiming to surprise fans of the source while remaining accessible to viewers who do not know it.³

Visual effects

The production company CREDEUS, founded by producer Shinzo Matsuhashi as a spinout from Plus D, handled the film, with visual effects by Spade&Co., Shirogumi, DIGITAL-ATOM LABO, and others.⁷ Post-production began in earnest in September 2018, with most work finished by the end of 2018 and revisions continuing into mid-February 2019.⁷ Interior scenes such as the Xianyang palace, the climax setting, were built as sets in Toei's largest studio and extended digitally.⁷ The in-house VFX team DIGITAL-ATOM LABO, then five digital artists and three compositors, handled about 230 shots, including the opening, crowd shots of 80,000 soldiers, and the character Muta's effects, the largest volume it had ever taken on.⁸ Effects such as blood spray, debris, and dust were handled with live-action footage rather than CG.⁷

Release and box office

The film opened in Japan on April 19, 2019, distributed by Toho and Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan).¹ By May 30, 2019 it had earned over 5 billion yen (about USD 46 million) from 3.7 million admissions.⁵ Its final fiscal-year total reached ¥5.73 billion, the highest box office of any Japanese live-action film in fiscal 2019, ahead of Kaiji: Final Game (¥2.04 billion) and The Fable (¥1.77 billion).² It received its first terrestrial television broadcast on NTV on May 29, 2020, uncut.⁹ Overseas, it opened in Malaysia on July 18, 2019 through Primeworks Studios⁵ and had a limited United States release on August 16, 2019 through Funimation, with streaming from January 21, 2020.¹⁰

Reception

On Metacritic the film scored 62 based on five critic reviews, three positive and two mixed, with none negative.¹¹ The Hollywood Reporter's John DeFore called it colorful enough to excite genre fans who like history with their swordplay, and Variety's Richard Kuipers found it thoroughly entertaining, praising its mix of 21st-century attitude with the period setting.¹¹ The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times each scored it 60; Charles Solomon wrote that the film may lack nuance but gives fans of martial spectacles an enjoyable if exhausting time.¹¹ In Japan, Mark Schilling of The Japan Times called it an admirable try at bringing the manga's Warring States setting to the screen.¹²

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026