The Big Picture
- Fans of the Naruto franchise will be thrilled to see Road to Ninja, The Last, and Boruto arriving on Netflix on July 7.
- These films have been highly successful, with Boruto topping the others and becoming the 11th highest-grossing Japanese film in 2015.
- Don’t forget to catch up on Boruto: Naruto Next Generations on Crunchyroll while waiting for these exciting additions to Netflix.
Summer is still in full swing, and Netflix has some interesting plans for subscribers that will become reality starting next week. Per ComicBook, the streaming giant plans on adding a number of shows and movies to its catalog, including several anime productions, this July. Among the list are three Naruto movies: Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie, The Last: Naruto the Movie, and Boruto: Naruto the Movie. These three films are set to head to Netflix on July 7.
Released in Japan on July 28, 2012, Road to Ninja is based on Masashi Kishimoto‘s manga and anime series, like every other production in the Naruto franchise. Hayato Date served as director while production was handled by Makoto Shiraishi and Naoji Hohnokidani. About two years later, The Last was released, becoming the tenth film based on Kishimoto’s manga. It was directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi and produced by Takuyuki Hirobe, Hohnokidani and Shoji Matsui. As for Boruto, a sequel to The Last, it was released on August 7, 2015, with Hiroyuki Yamashita directing.
Road to Ninja, set after episode 251 of Naruto Shippuden, sees Naruto and Sakura transported to a reality where both of Naruto’s parents are alive, Sakura is an orphan, and Sasuke never left Konoha. In addition, The Last, set after episode 493 of Shippuden, follows Naruto and his friends discovering that the moon will collide with Earth, an event caused by a descendant of The Sage of Six Paths. And in Boruto, which occurs after the finale of Naruto Shippuden and before Boruto: Naruto Next Generations: “With Naruto as the Seventh Hokage, Hidden Leaf Village is planning to host the Chunin Exams to train new shinobi from the village and from five of their allied villages.”
The ‘Naruto’ Films Have Gone Far
It goes without saying that these three Naruto movies coming to Netflix will boost their popularity; however, they have also been doing well on their own. Road to Ninja became the highest-grossing Naruto film, earning $18.3 million between its opening on July 28 and September 23, 2012, but was surpassed by The Last, which, as the title implies, is the last film in the Naruto franchise and became the franchise’s top-grossing feature film after amassing $14.76 million in December 2014. Still, its sequel, Boruto, topped these two by having the highest-grossing opening and becoming the 11th highest-grossing Japanese film and the 7th highest-grossing anime film at the Japanese box office in 2015.
Road to Ninja, The Last and Boruto will arrive at Netflix on July 7, so do stay tuned to Collider for further updates. Meanwhile, catch up on another Naruto saga, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, which is currently available to stream on Crunchyroll.
