Record company source: singer will make song if film's opening date is set

The first 2015 issue of Bungeishunjū's Weekly Bunshun magazine on Thursday featured an article on the return of singer Hikaru Utada . It quoted a record company source as saying that confidential talks are underway regarding her return to the music industry. The source added that it has been decided that she will sing the theme song for the final new Evangelion film "slated to open between fall and winter of next year." The source explained that Utada has one more album left on her contract with Universal Music Japan, so the company wants the Evangelion song to be the focus of the final album.

However, the source said the theme song tie-in is entirely dependent on director Hideaki Anno opening the film next year as planned. The source explained that Utada can make a song without seeing the story or visuals, but she will not proceed with the project if the opening date is still to be determined.

Other sources have listed Studio Khara 's fourth and final new Evangelion film in 2015. In June 2013, Enterbrain 's OtonaFami magazine reported a 2015 opening date for the film. The website Web The Television wrote this past July that the film "is slated to open at the end of next year" — only to update the article less than an hour later to instead say the film "has created a stir online and is reportedly opening at the end of next year. […] (There is no official announcement of the opening date.)"

In their December 19 articles about Studio Khara 's Japan Animator Expo short with new Evangelion anime footage, ITmedia's Netlab website and Weekly ASCII magazine's Shū-Asu Plus website both describe the film as "slated to open in 2015."

Earlier this month, the official website for Neon Genesis Evangelion streamed Studio Khara 's new music video for Hikaru Utada 's song "Beautiful World," which was the ending theme for 2007's Evangelion: 1.0 You Are [Not] Alone . The video, directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki , features some new footage interspersed with footage from the new Evangelion films. The video promotes Utada 's 15th anniversary cover album, which features a variety of artists covering her songs.

An acoustic version of the same song became the ending theme for 2009's Evangelion: 2.0 You Can [Not] Advance . Utada has been on hiatus from the entertainment business since the beginning of 2011, although she returned to host a monthly radio program called Kuma Power Hour with Utada Hikaru on the InterFM station starting in April 2013. She did contribute the song "Sakura Nagashi" as the ending theme for 2012's Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo ( Evangelion Shin Gekijō-ban: Q), but her management emphasized that the song did not represent a full-fledged return from her hiatus.

[Via Minna no Eva Fan]