Films, TV series, animation and the great worlds of the contemporary imagination take centre stage once again in the Area Movie at Lucca Comics & Games, organised by QMI, which, in the year marking the event’s 60th anniversary, brings previews, high-profile Italian and international guests, panels, special screenings and experiences spread across cinemas, squares and venues throughout the historic centre.
Disney+ returns to Lucca with Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which will be the centrepiece of the 60th anniversary of Lucca Comics & Games, bringing actors Walker Scobell, Leah Sava’ Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri to the festival for the first time, alongside co-creator and executive producer Jonathan E. Steinberg and executive producer Dan Shotz. The cast and crew will take part in a dedicated panel during which previously unseen clips from the highly anticipated third season of the series will be previewed; the season is set to debut on 20 November exclusively on Disney+.
Sky will present Nord Sud Ovest Est – La leggendaria storia degli 883 with director Sydney Sibilia and lead actors Elia Nuzzolo and Matteo Oscar Giuggioli, who will present a preview of the fifth episode, whilst Piazza San Francesco will host a dedicated space for the series.
Lucky Red will open the programme in the Movie Area with Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom to mark the 50th anniversary of Aardman Studios, in the presence of founder Peter Lord and director Matthew Walker. Also highly anticipated is Hirokazu Kore-eda, who will be presenting his latest film Look Back, adapted from the manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto; and the 4K screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece Kiki’s Delivery Service.
Warner Bros. Pictures will present a preview of The Cat in the Hat with director Alessandro Carloni and the Italian voice actors Stefano Fresi and Herbert Ballerina, as well as a dedicated space at the Loggiato Pretorio.
HBO Max, whilst we await the new HBO Original series, will bring the world of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone to Lucca in an immersive pavilion.
There will also be special events dedicated to Adventure Time: Side Quests (broadcast in Italy on Cartoon Network and Boing), attended by showrunner Nate Cash.
Paramount+ will present the second series of Dexter: Resurrection with a special screening, a talk and the Dexter Experience in Piazza Anfiteatro; whilst for younger visitors, in Piazza Real Collegio, there will be a giant SpongeBob bouncy castle and meet-and-greets with costumed characters.
Netflix will once again be present at Lucca Comics & Games. This year, to celebrate the global K-pop phenomenon DEMON HUNTERS.
Crunchyroll will be in Lucca with an immersive pavilion in Piazzale Arrigoni dedicated to One Piece, Black Clover, The Apothecary Diaries and Firefly Wedding, as well as the eagerly awaited Crunchyroll Show, the world premiere of the first two episodes of Shangri-La Frontier Season 3, and the first-ever visit to Italy – in collaboration with Italian publisher Jundo – by Li Haoling, author and director of Link Click and To Be Hero X. The programme will also include the screening of an exclusive ‘recap’ film for Link Click.
CD PROJEKT RED, meanwhile, will bring showrunner Bartosz Sztybor and executive producer Saya Elder to Lucca for a panel dedicated to Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2.
Also on the programme is a special screening for fans of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, courtesy of Notorious Pictures, which will present an installation dedicated to the film in Piazza San Giusto, whilst Universal Pictures will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Fast & Furious with a special screening of Rob Cohen’s film.
The ‘Lucca Comics & Games Horror Nights’ are also back: titles include It Ends by Alexander Ullom for I Wonder Pictures, which will also have its own pavilion in Piazza San Giovanni, and the national premiere of Godzilla Minus Zero by Takashi Yamazaki, winner of an Oscar® for visual effects, courtesy of Plaion Pictures. Also as part of the Horror Nights programme, Minerva Pictures, together with FilmClub Distribuzione and Digital United Studios, will present Federico Zampaglione’s The Nameless Ballad, introduced by the director alongside Barbara Baraldi, as well as Ángel Gómez Hernández’s Arachnid and William Stead’s Popeye’s Revenge.
Other unmissable premieres in the Movie section include the fantasy film Momo by Christian Ditter, starring Martin Freeman, courtesy of Minerva Pictures, and the horror thriller Hope by Na Hong-jin, courtesy of MUBI.
Cinema and comics come together in Caro Mondo Crudele by Niccolò Falsetti and Francesco Turbanti, directed by Niccolò Falsetti, which will be presented by the authors alongside Zerocalcare, creator of the concept for the animated sequences; and in Le ragazzine stanno perdendo il controllo. Society fears them. La fine è azzurra by Pierluca Di Pasquale, based on the graphic novel by Ratigher, who will introduce the screening.
The Movie Area will also pay tribute to Frank Miller, who will be present alongside director Silenn Thomas for the documentary Frank Miller: American Genius.
There will also be a strong focus on Japanese animation: Toei Animation Europe returns with One Piece, the star of the revamped pavilion at the Baluardo Santa Maria and of activities in the KIDS area, and PreCure, with the Western premiere of Star Detective PreCure – The Movie! in the presence of producer Hibiki Minagawa. Dynit, meanwhile, will present the national premiere of Gintama the Movie 2026: Yoshiwara in Flames with director Naoya Ando and producer Takashi Maekawa.
Rounding off the programme is RIFT – The Future Is at Stake, a docu-game produced by Infinity LAB and presented by director and master Claudio Di Biagio, whilst Mediaset Infinity will also be bringing a ‘time machine’ dedicated to its cult content; and La mia anima ha fretta by Giuseppe Contarino, a documentary on the story of Nicolas Gentile and his dream of building a real Hobbit Shire in Abruzzo, inspired by the world of J.R.R. Tolkien.
