One Piece Film Z

One Piece Film Z (ONE PIECE FILM Z (ワンピース フィルムゼット), Wan Pīsu Firumu Zetto) is the twelfth film in the One Piece series that is based upon the original One Piece manga created by Eiichiro Oda. The announcement of the movie was made on November 13, 2011 on FUJI TV as they were airing the previous One Piece Film: Strong World. This will be the second movie that Eiichiro Oda has played a major hand in it's production, the first being Strong World. The events of the film take place during the fifteenth season of One Piece as before the last 4 episodes of the 21st story arcs, "Z's Ambition", and revolves around the Straw Hat Pirates battling against Zephyr, considered to be the most powerful enemy they've faced yet.

The One Piece Film: Z movie was originally released on December 15, 2012 at 300 screens in Japan. The movie broke the opening day record for the One Piece franchise series with ¥750 million ($9 million USD) box office and an audience of 600,000.

Synopsis

Zephyr, now known as Z, rides the seas with only one goal: Destroy all pirates and their dreams at becoming King of Pirates. When Luffy and his crew encounter him at sea, not only are they utterly defeated by the man with an arm made of Seastone, Nami, Robin, and Chopper are turned ten years younger due to Z's minion Ain. Luffy is so determined to win against him that he does not even notice Z's master plan that could sacrifice thousands of lives.

Release

Theatrical

One Piece Film: Z opened at number one in the Japanese box office, earning ¥1.37 billion (US$16.3 million) during its opening weekend. Film attendees received 1 of 2 million copies of an 84-page “Volume 1,000” of One Piece, which contains designs about Character Z (also known as Zephyr) and an exclusive One Piece Treasure World card. The film grossed ¥6.87 billion in Japan.

The movie was released across several other Asian countries including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, and South Korea. A French dub was released for One Piece's "Straw Hat Day" on May 15, 2013. The worldwide total box office from Japan and above countries is about $85 million.

DVD/Blu-ray

Z was released in Japan on June 28, 2013 on DVD and Blu-ray, with both formats having a regular edition and a limited "Greatest Armored Edition". The regular editions for both formats include trailers, with the first copies having one of nine randomly distributed holographic stickers of a straw hat. The limited editions for both formats include all nine straw hat holographic stickers, Zephyr's weapon Smasher as a keychain, a stand with a voice recording, and not-for-sale press material. The limited editions also has a bonus DVD which includes the prologue to the film, titled One Piece: Glorious Island, "event footage", and interviews. By the end of the year in Japan, it had sold 125,667 DVDs and 80,016 Blu-rays.

In the Philippines, Z was released on DVD and VCD by C-Interactive Digital Entertainment on October 17, 2013.

On April 7, 2014, Funimation announced its acquisition of the home video rights to the film in the United States and Canada. The film was released in a Blu-ray/DVD combo on September 30, 2014, which includes the English dub recorded by Funimation, promos for the film, and a video of Patrick Seitz at Sakura-Con in 2014.

Selecta Visión released the film in Spain on DVD and Blu-ray on November 30, 2016, featuring Japanese and Spanish audio, as well as subtitles in Spanish.

Music

The film's theme songs are covers of Nickelback's "How You Remind Me" and Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation", both performed by Canadian singer Avril Lavigne. Oda sent a personal thank you letter to Lavigne after hearing her cover of "How You Remind Me". "Bad Reputation" is one of Oda's favorite songs. Lavigne agreed to contribute the songs for the film. The film's soundtrack, containing 30 tracks, was released on December 12, 2012 by Sony Music Entertainment Japan.

One Piece Movie Chronology

1. One Piece: The Movie
2. Adventure Of Spiral Island
3. Chopper's Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals
4. Dead End Adventure
5. The Cursed Holy Sword
6. Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island
7. The Giant Mechanical Soldier of Karakuri Castle
8. Episode of Alabasta: The Desert Princess and the Pirates
9. Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in Winter, Miracle Sakura
10. One Piece Film: Strong World
11. One Piece 3D: Straw Hat Chase
12. One Piece Film: Z
13. One Piece Film: Gold
14. One Piece: Stampede