Bayside Shakedown 3 - Japanese movie based on TV series

[AlbertV]

Variety reported this potentially awesome news:

TOKYO -- Japan's Fuji TV network will make a third installment in its hit Bayside Shakedown cop thriller film franchise.

Fuji chief producer Chihiro Kameyama made the announcement Monday at the opening ceremony for a new police station in the Tokyo Bay area where the series is set.

"I'd like the first scene of the new film to be the move from the old (Tokyo Bay) station to the new one," Kameyama said.

Helmer Katsuyuki Motohiro and scribe Ryoichi Kimizuka will reunite for the third pic. Yuji Oda, who played the rebellious detective in the previous films, is in discussions to reprise the role.

Fuji has yet to fix the start of production or the release date.

Based on a cult hit Fuji TV show, the first "Bayside" pic earned $101 million in 1998, while the 2003 follow-up grossed $173.5 million -- an all-time B.O. record for a Japanese live-action pic.

Two theatrical spinoffs centering on supporting characters from the first two "Bayside" movies have also cleaned up at the box office.

When I lived in New York, I saw Bayside Shakedown: The Movie and Bayside Shakedown 2: The Movie and I loved them both!!! I hope that Yuji Oda returns. I have been a fan of his since seeing him in the 1992 J-Drama Tokyo Love Story and he made for an unlikely action hero in Whiteout (2000).