Lollipop Chainsaw Gets R-Rated Live-Action Film at TGS

The Tokyo Game Show 'Lollipop Chainsaw New Project' presentation announced a live-action film adaptation, set before the original 2012 game, per Deadline.

The livestreamed "Lollipop Chainsaw New Project" presentation at Tokyo Game Show announced that the cult 2012 hack-and-slash zombie game is being adapted into a live-action feature film. Anime News Network reports that Nada Holdings founder Joe Teng described the project as live-action and separate from the previously announced anime plans. Deadline's exclusive reveals the film is an R-rated action comedy set before the events of the original game, and says the creators are aiming to establish "a new model for building globally recognized entertainment franchises from Asia." The film comes under license from Dragami Games.

According to Deadline and Noisy Pixel, the film follows Juliet Starling, a San Romero High School cheerleader born into a legendary family of zombie hunters. When a catastrophic zombie outbreak engulfs her school, Juliet must fight her way through the undead to save her friends and protect her family — while somehow keeping her boyfriend Nick close, even if it requires "highly unconventional arrangements," a nod to one of the original game's most recognizable elements. Both outlets describe the tone as a horror-comedy blend, with Noisy Pixel confirming the R-rating and prequel framing in its report.

The producers announced span multiple companies and continents. Anime News Network identifies Ambitious Entertainment's Kirk Shaw (an associate producer on The Hurt Locker) and former ZDF Studios drama vice president Robert Franke (Concordia, Benidorm Is Murder) as producers who intend to make a "Hollywood" film for worldwide audiences. Deadline adds Throne Inc. managing director Takafumi Yuki (As One) and Non Stop TV president Patricio Rabuffetti to the roster, alongside Joe Teng and Franke's Orange Chariot indie. Franke says the film will feel "unmistakably true to the spirit" of the game while standing on its own, so newcomers need not have played it.

Yet Deadline reports the game has sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide, and a remaster, Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, launched in September 2024 with a Switch 2 version in May of this year. Anime News Network notes Dragami Games acquired the IP from Kadokawa Games in 2022 after the game's status had been in limbo, making the franchise's current expansion possible.

The film is only part of the expansion announced at TGS. Anime News Network reports that Nada Holdings and Dragami Games also announced Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back for PlayStation 5 in 2027, directed by Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata with his JP Universe company developing, and with original writer Masahiro Yuki and original character designer NekoshowguN involved. Deadline and SSBCrack News also reference an animated series launching alongside new game content. Deadline says the latest Lollipop Chainsaw game launches soon alongside the animated series, positioning the film as one strand of a coordinated transmedia push.

Dragami Games President Shohei Sato told Deadline the company is "truly excited to see our vision take another important step with the franchise's first live-action feature film," praising a team it says understands what makes the property special. The stakes are clear from SSBCrack's framing: the adaptation is intended to prove Asian game franchises can reach global film audiences on their own terms — a thesis the film's performance will test.