GKIDS Will Release French/Japanese Feature ‘MFKZ’ In U.S.

GKIDS has acquired North American distribution rights to MFKZ, the France/Japanese co-production that was released internationally last year as Mutafukaz.

Produced by France’s Ankama (Wakfu, Dofus) and Japan’s Studio 4°C (Batman: Gotham Knight, Tekkonkinkreet, Mind Game), MFKZ is a hyperviolent genre-mashup based on the work of French comic artist Guillaume “Run” Renard, and directed by Renard and Shoujirou Nishimi.

GKIDS will release the film theatrically on October 11, 2018, including a new English-language version.

“We have known the team at GKIDS for some time, and we are thrilled that MFKZ marks our first partnership,” said Frederic Puech, the film’s associate producer at Ankama. “We look forward to supporting the team in bringing the film to North American audiences.”

MFKZ takes place in Dark Meat City (DMC), which Run has described as “a condensed exaggeration of Los Angeles’ varied strengths and weaknesses.” The story follows DMC resident Angelino, a deadbeat who starts experiencing violent migraines and monstrous hallucinations, as well as fits of rage-inspired superpower, after a scooter accident.

GKIDS describes it as a sci-fi film that “mixes anime, film noir, lucha libre, and gang culture in an orgy of first-person shooter mayhem” that takes places in an “LA-inspired dystopian metropolis – a burnt-out, gang and cockroach-ridden neo-urban hell that makes Blade Runner’s LA seem like The Brady Bunch.”