Artist International Group Signs ‘The Midnight Meat Train,’ ‘Lupin The Third’ Filmmaker Ryuhei Kitamura

EXCLUSIVE: Artist International Group has signed renowned Japanese filmmaker Ryuhei Kitamura for representation.

First coming onto the scene in Japan with his ultra-violent zombie samurai action flick VersusKitamura directed his first English-language feature with the Bradley Cooper-led The Midnight Meat Trainan adaptation of the Clive Barker novel for Lakeshore Entertainment and Lionsgate.

Previously, Kitamura has helmed manga adaptations including the sci-fi actioner Alive; an epic samurai action pic based on Yu Koyama’s Aragami; Lupin the Third for Toho and Kadokawa; and The Three Sisters of Tenmasouinn. In television, Kitamura created the hit series Sky High before going on to direct a feature adaptation. Other notable credits include the 50th anniversary film Godzilla Final Warsdirecting the narrative scenes in the bestselling video game Metal Gear Solid: The Twins Snakesand his latest Japanese film, Love Death.

Additional credits stateside for Kitamura include Pathé’s No One Lives starring Luke Evans, Nightmare Cinema with David Slade, and the action thriller The Doorman starring Ruby Rose and Jean Reno. Most recently, he helmed the 2023 horror pic The Price We Paystarring Emile Hirsch and Stephen Dorff.

Next, Kitamura will direct the recently announced roller coaster thriller Thrill Ride. Written by Chad Law and Christopher Jolley, the English-language film will tell the story of a group of people, including two young women, who are trapped upside down on a roller coaster taken over by a mysterious saboteur threatening to drop them all one-by-one to their deaths.

Other notable filmmaker clients at AIG include include Ludovic Bernard (Lupin), Tony Kaye (American History X) and Michael Haussman (Edge of the World), to name just a few. Actor clients include Michelle Yeoh (Everywhere All at Once), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors), Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire), Gong Li (Mulan), Carolina Miranda (Fake Profile), Kev Adams (Retirement Home), Rafael Cebrian (Acapulco), Fan Bingbing (The 355), Rossy de Palma (Parallel Mothers) and Zine Tseng (3 Body Problem).