"Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale" premiered in Japan on Feb. 18 and was theatrically released in the United States starting on March 9, Thursday. Before the theatrical release in the U.S., the animated film premiered in Hollywood, California, on March 1.
Present during the event were director Tomohiko Ito, illustrator abec and writer Reki Kawahara and they were joined by Yuki Kajiura and Shingo Adachi, who worked on the animated film's music and character designs, respectively. Some of the English dub cast for the "Sword Art Online" series and some cosplayers were on the red carpet, as well.
In an interview with Nerd Reactor, Kawahara was asked if he would be interested in going back into another film considering that he still has a new season to come out. Previously, the writer expressed his interest in looking into doing the VR video game.
Kawahara said that this would be predicated on all the fan support joined as one. Some of the feature development and potentials may include VR content, he pointed out.
For the Stateside, Skydance Studios is interested in doing a live-action version of "Sword Art Online," Kawahara revealed. For him, it is important to come up with new content and deliver continually in order to also continually attract the attention of both fans and creators.
What makes "Sword Art Online" popular across the globe is the diversity of the game worlds that each character goes to, Kawahara noted. The elf worlds and the gun worlds are among these places, he added.
In other news, the free DLC for "Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization" will be available on March 14, Tuesday, according to Crunchy Roll. With the large-scale update, players can enter a new stage called the Stalvatos Ruins.
"Sword Art Online: Lost Song" characters Seven and Rain will appear in "Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization." Here is a trailer: