Three years after its release in Japan, the popular action film "Azumi" premiered in Hollywood this week, with its director and producer walking the red carpet.
Crowds lined up outside the Egyptian Theater in Los Angelese as director Ryuhei Kitamura and producer Mataichiro Yamamoto were greeted with applause during a prescreening reception inside the historic theater.
The film is based on the "manga" comic by Yu Koyama, "Azumi" and grossed about $7.5 million in Japan. Its popularity inspired the 2005 sequel "Azumi 2: Death or Love."
"I'm very happy. It's been three years since I finished this movie, which is quite a long time, but it's good to hold the release here. This kind of thing doesn't happen often to a Japanese movie," Kitamura said.