Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light
Theatrical release poster
Japanese name
Kanji遊戯王デュエルモンスターズ 光のピラミッド
Literal meaningYu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: Pyramid of Light
Transcriptions
Revised HepburnYūgiō Dyueru Monsutāzu Hikari no Piramiddo
Directed byHatsuki Tsuji
Written by
Based onYu-Gi-Oh!
by Kazuki Takahashi
Produced by
  • Lloyd Goldfine
  • Katia Milani
  • Michael Pecerlello
Starring
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • August 13, 2004 (2004-08-13) (United States)
  • November 3, 2004 (2004-11-03) (Japan)
Running time
  • 89 minutes[1] (US release)
  • 102 minutes (Japanese release)
Countries
  • United States
  • Japan
Languages
Budget$20 million[2]
Box office$29.2 million[3]

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, later released in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: Pyramid of Light (Japanese: 遊戯王デュエルモンスターズ 光のピラミッド, Hepburn: Yūgiō Dyueru Monsutāzu Hikari no Piramiddo, lit. 'Game King Duel Monsters: Light Pyramid'), or simply Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie, is a 2004 animated adventure fantasy film produced by 4Kids Entertainment based on the Japanese manga and anime Yu-Gi-Oh![4] It stars the cast of the Yu-Gi-Oh! television series in a new adventure that takes place between the third and fourth seasons of the show.

The film was first released in theaters in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures under their Warner Bros. Family Entertainment label on August 13, 2004,[5][4] and was released on DVD and VHS on November 16, 2004.[6] The film was released in theaters in Japan by Toho on November 3, 2004, and aired on TV Tokyo on January 2, 2005. A remastered version of the film was released in theaters by 4K Media Inc. in 2018 on March 11 and 12 in the US,[7][8] 25, April 28, and 29 in Canada[9] and June 13 in the United Kingdom,[10] and was released on Blu-ray by Konami Cross Media NY and Cinedigm on October 8, 2019.[11] The film was a critical and commercial failure.

Plot

Five thousand years ago, an heroic Pharaoh Atem imprisoned Anubis, the Egyptian lord of the dead, after he tried to destroy the world by persuading the kings to play the mysterious Shadow Games. In the present day, Anubis' tomb is uncovered by archaeologists, amazed with his strongest and most valuable treasure: the Pyramid of Light. At the same time, Yugi Muto completed the Millennium Puzzle which contains Atem's soul, releasing dozens of monsters and turns Yugi into a heroic Pharaoh named Atem under his control, under the alias of Yami Yugi, and banishes the monsters back to the shadow realm and a devastating spiritual force unleashes from the relic and liberates the Egyptian sorcerer. Anubis, now free, intends to conclude his plan.

Three years later, the Battle City Finals have recently concluded, and Yugi has achieved international fame by defeating his arch-rival Seto Kaiba and obtaining the three Egyptian God Cards: Slifer the Sky Dragon, Obelisk the Tormentor, and the Winged Dragon of Ra. Kaiba, determined to defeat Yugi once and for all, turns to Maximillion Pegasus, the creator of the Duel Monsters card game, in order to obtain any new cards designed to defeat the almighty God Cards. Pegasus tells Kaiba that he has a card he is looking for, but will only give it to Kaiba if he can beat him in a duel. Kaiba defeats Pegasus and claims two cards, one of which was secretly planted by Anubis.

Meanwhile, Yugi and Téa Gardner after escaping the pro duelists who saw Yugi as a champion all wanted Yugi to challenge him with his three Egyptian God Cards go to the local museum where Anubis' corpse and the Pyramid of Light are on display. They meet up with Yugi's grandfather, Solomon, who reads a foreboding prophecy:

The eye that sees what's yet to come
Its vision shall be fulfilled
Unless blinded by events predetermined
Thus light and shadows both be killed

It is then that the vengefully dark spirit of Anubis attacks the group, with Yugi having a vision of Anubis himself manipulating Kaiba and Yami Yugi being hurt in a Shadow Game. He awakens to find Anubis and the Pyramid of Light missing. Kaiba's younger brother Mokuba arrives, and Yugi is taken to Kaiba's duel dome with his friends Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor in pursuit. Kaiba arrogantly and ignorantly forces Yami Yugi into a duel, unaware that Anubis is manipulating him into using one of the two new cards, Pyramid of Light, which covers the field in a huge replica of the actual pyramid and destroys the God Cards. Yugi, Joey and Tristan are sucked into the pyramid while Mokuba flees the crumbling building.

Yugi, Joey, and Tristan awaken within the Millennium Puzzle, finding Anubis' tomb within. Anubis reveals that his monsters will destroy the modern world. Yami Yugi and Kaiba continue their duel, each blow to their in-game Life Points draining away their physical energy. To make matters worse, Kaiba's Deck Destruction Virus sends more than half of Yami's deck to the Graveyard, leaving him with barely any cards, and attacks from his Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon (his second new card), both with 4500 Attack Points, drop Yami's Life Points to 200. Pegasus figures out what is going on and arrives in a helicopter to rescue Téa, Solomon, and Mokuba. Téa sends her soul into the Millennium Puzzle to aid Yugi, Joey and Tristan. Yugi finds the Dagger of Fate within Anubis' tomb, and uses it to destroy the all-seeing eye, as predicted by the prophecy.

When Kaiba deviates from Anubis' plan and attempts to destroy the Pyramid of Light, Anubis materializes, casts him aside, and takes command of the duel. Yami, reunited with Yugi, destroys the Pyramid of Light card with Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon and then uses Kaiba's planned strategy to summon the God Cards and end the duel by destroying Anubis.

However, Anubis transforms into a monster and allows any monster to become real when summoned. This proves to be his undoing when Yugi and Yami summon Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon to beat Anubis with ease, ultimately destroying him for good. An injured Kaiba departs with Mokuba, with the promise to defeat Yugi next time they meet. Yugi thanks the spirit of Yami, and his three best friends for their strong enduring friendship which he claims makes him a true winner.

Voice cast

Character Voice Actor (Japanese) Voice Actor (English)
Yugi Mutou / Yami Yugi Shunsuke Kazama (Johnny's Jr.) Dan Green
Seto Kaiba Kenjiro Tsuda Eric Stuart
Anubis Kōji Ishii Scott Rayow
Joey Wheeler Hiroki Takahashi Wayne Grayson
Tristan Taylor Hidehiro Kikuchi Greg Abbey
Téa Gardner Maki Saitou Amy Birnbaum
Mokuba Kaiba Junko Takeuchi Tara Jayne
Solomon Mutou Tadashi Miyazawa Maddie Blaustein
Maximillion Pegasus Jiro J. Takasugi Darren Dunstan

Soundtrack

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by
Yu-Gi-Oh!
ReleasedAugust 10, 2004
Recorded2004
GenreRock, pop, hip hop
Length44:46
Label4Kids Entertainment, RCA
ProducerJohn Siegler, Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair, Eddie Montilla, Jean Rodríguez, Wayne Sharp, Shep Goodman, Kenny Gioia, Herminio Quiroz, Ron Riley, Russell Velázquez, Jen Scaturro, Julian Schwartz, Jake Siegler, Alex Walker
Yu-Gi-Oh! chronology
Yu-Gi-Oh! Music to Duel By
(2002)		 Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie Soundtrack
(2004)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[12]

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie Soundtrack feature various vocal artists (most notably The Black Eyed Peas, who contributed the song "For the People") from the English version. It was released on August 10, 2004, on RCA on Audio CD and Compact Cassette.[13] The score for the film was never released.

No.TitleWriter(s)Performer(s)Length
1."You're Not Me"Norman J. Grossfeld, John SieglerMarty Bags3:16
2."For the People"Will Adams, Taz Arnold, Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair, Jamie A. Dávila "Tame" Gómez, Shafiq HusaynThe Black Eyed Peas4:01
3."One Card Short"Norman J. Grossfeld, John SieglerJames Chatton3:50
4."Step Up"Eddie Montilla, Paul "DJ White Shadow" BlairJean Rodríguez3:53
5."Shadow Games"Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair, Wayne SharpeTrixie Reiss3:32
6."It's Over"Paul "DJ White Shadow" BlairFatty Koo3:49
7."Blind Ambition"Russel VelazquezThe Deleted3:18
8."The Great Pretender"Jon FrederikThe Jon Frederik Band3:14
9."How Much Longer"Jen ScaturroJen Scaturro3:12
10."U Better Fear Me"Russel Velazquez, Paul "DJ White Shadow" BlairThe Deleted4:17
11."Power Within"Wayne Sharpe, Paul "DJ White Shadow" BlairDan Metreyeon3:09
12."Believe In"Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair, Jake Siegler, Alex (Llocks) WalkerSkwib3:07
13."Yu-Gi-Oh! Theme" Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair2:07

Production

In July 2003, it was announced Warner Bros. had acquired the distribution rights to the then untitled feature length Yu-Gi-Oh! movie hoping to match prior success with distributing the first three Pokémon films.[14]

The English-language version of the film retains most of the regional changes made to the TV show, like the use of different character names (for instance, the character known in Japan as "Anzu Mazaki" is named "Téa Gardner" in other markets). Unlike the regular series, the trading cards seen in the film actually look like their real-life counterparts; the English-language series would normally edit them to alter their appearance.

The version of the film released in Japan featured thirteen minutes of additional animation. It utilized the characters' original names, along with the original soundtrack and sound effects heard in the Japanese version of the television series. Also, a different ending theme is used in the Japanese version, being the song Fire by groove metal band BLAZE.

Promotion

Attendees of the premiere got two of four free Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game cards (Pyramid of Light, Sorcerer of Dark Magic, Watapon, and Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon) when filmgoers purchased tickets for the film.

Novelization

A tie-in novelization for the film was released in 2004, written by Junki Takegami. The novel is divided into a prologue, 5 chapters, and an epilogue. It is virtually identical in terms of plot, save for a few minor changes, such as explaining that Akhenaden created the Pyramid of Light for his son Seto as a failed recreation of the Millennium Puzzle, and extra exposition, such as giving out detailed deck-lists for each character. The novel was never released and translated to English, and is now rare since it has gone out of print.[15]

Release

Home media

The film was released on DVD and VHS on November 16, 2004.[6]

The film debuted on the Blu-ray format in the United States for the first time on October 8, 2019.[16]

Box office

Yu-Gi-Oh! – The Movie: Pyramid of Light opened at 2,411 screens across the U.S. and made a theater screen average of $3,934. By the end of the weekend, it made $9,485,494 and place #4 on the Box Office Top 10 behind Collateral, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, and Alien vs. Predator, which opened up on the same day and took the #1 position. It is currently the #3 Japanese animated film in the US Box Office, after Pokémon: The First Movie and Pokémon: The Movie 2000.[17] The film grossed $19,765,868 in the United States and Canada, with only $29,170,410 worldwide,[3] making it a box-office bomb compared to the success of the first three Pokémon films dubbed by the same company.

Critical reception

The film was met with poor reception from critics. Criticism likened it to the Pokémon films in that it was only appropriate for fans of the franchise. Rotten Tomatoes ranked the film 68th in the "100 Worst Reviewed Films of the 2000s", with a rating of 5%, based on 66 reviews while the consensus reads, "Don't watch the TV show or play the card game? Then this movie is not for you."[18] The film was the lowest-rated animated film on Metacritic until it was surpassed by 2017's The Emoji Movie, with an average of 15 out of 100, meaning "overwhelming dislike", based on 18 reviews.[19] On Rotten Tomatoes, it is the second lowest-rated animated film of the 2000s behind Happily N'Ever After. In a retrospective review for the Radio Times Guide to Films, film critic Lucy Barrick awarded the film two stars out of five, describing the narrative as "largely incomprehensible" and the animation as "bog-standard".[20]

Fathom Events re-releases

On February 1, 2018, it was announced by Fathom Events and 4K Media Inc. that the film would be getting a remastered re-release in 800 American theaters through March 11 to 12.[7]

In October 2018, a trailer for the Remasters preview for the current Yu-Gi-Oh anime, Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, was shown alongside the film, in which the Yu-Gi-Oh film is on Blu-ray, which came out on October 8, 2018.[21]

Notes

  1. ↑ The Japanese script was adapted by Junki Takegami, Yoshihiko and Masahiro Kubo.
  2. ↑ The music was composed by Shinkichi Mitsumune for the Japanese version.

References

  1. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh! – The Movie – Pyramid of Light". bbfc.co.uk. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh (2004) – Financial Information". Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  3. 1 2 Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light at Box Office Mojo
  4. 1 2 "YU-GI-OH!: The Movie To Premiere August 13 4Kids Entertainment, In Association With Shueisha, TV Tokyo And Nihon ADSystems, Teams With Warner Brothers Pictures For YU-GI-OH! Motion Picture" (PDF). .4kidsentertainment.com. March 9, 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 14, 2006. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Yu-gi-oh! The Movie". Warner Bros. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie Arrives on DVD and VHS November 16; Animated Film Based on the Top-Rated Television Series and Popular Trading Card Game". Business Wire. Berkshire Hathaway. October 11, 2004. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  7. 1 2 "Remastered 'Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie' Comes to U.S. Movie Theaters for Two Days This March". PRNewswire. Cision. February 1, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  8. ↑ Ressler, Karen (February 1, 2018). "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie to screen again in U.S. theaters". Anime News Network. Retrieved June 11, 2018. Fathom Events announced on Thursday that it will screen Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie in United States theaters on March 11 and March 12.
  9. ↑ Mateo, Alex (March 13, 2018). "Cineplex lists Canadian Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie screenings". Anime News Network. Retrieved June 11, 2018. Cineplex is listing the remastered version of Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie screenings in Canadian theaters on April 25, April 28, and April 29.
  10. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh!". Manga Entertainment. 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018. In cinemas Wednesday 13th June
  11. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh! Movie [Blu-ray]". Amazon. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  12. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie – Original Soundtrack – Songs, Reviews, Credits – AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh: The Movie". August 13, 2004. Retrieved March 14, 2017 – via Amazon.
  14. ↑ "WB imports Tokyo toon 'Yu-Gi-Oh!'". Variety. Retrieved July 31, 2003.
  15. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie Pyramid of Light Novelization - Deck Analyses". Darkness Rising. August 1, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  16. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie Blu-ray Release Date October 8, 2019".
  17. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D's U.S. Theatrical Run Dated for February–March". Anime News Network. November 22, 2010.
  18. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie". rottentomatoes.com. August 7, 2004. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  19. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic.
  20. ↑ Barrick, Lucy (2014), "'Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie'", The Radio Times Guide to Films 2015, Immediate Media Company Ltd., London, no. Radio Times Film Unit, p. 1383
  21. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh: The Movie Remastered Release on Blu Ray". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
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