UPDATE 6/16: Individuals close to the One Piece franchise in Japan have spoken to us and our contacts and have outright denied the claims of a live-action One Piece movie as stated in Business Wire and Yahoo News’s press release. As of now, no such movie is under production, according to the sources close to Shueisha and Toei. Why did Business Wire publish a press release? That we don’t know. We’ll let you know if there is any further update. Our humble apologies for all the confusion it may have caused.

UPDATE 6/17: Shueisha denies the news as well.

A Chinese company named Shanghai Minghuan Investment Co., Ltd. has announced that they have acquired the copyright of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece, and are planning to bring a One Piece live-action movie to screens.

The Japanese actor Masataka Kubota has been cast as Monkey D. Luffy, and Chinese Idol Girl Group GNZ48’s Xie Leile will play the role of Pudding, Big Mom’s thirty-fifth daughter and currently Sanji’s bride-to-be.

The release date for the said One Piece live-action movie is not known at the moment.

Press release:

BEIJING–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Shanghai Minghuan Investment Co., Ltd., a Chinese company based in Shanghai, recently announced that the company has bought the copyright of the popular Japanese manga and TV anime One Piece from the manga artist and owner of One Piece Eiichiro Oda for 1.6 billion Yen (US$ 15.1 million) and plans to adapt it into a live-action film. One Piece has enjoyed widespread popularity across the globe ever since it started serializing in 1997. Although anticipations have been high from its fans, the adaptation of One Piece into a live-action film was regarded as a mission impossible due to its copyright issues. The copyright deal sealed by the Chinese company can really be an excitement to One Piece fans all over the world, as the deal will grant the company the right to develop related live-action film, TV series and other derivatives. The company revealed that the Japanese actor Masataka Kubota will star as Monkey D. Luffy in the film, who ranked top 1 in Who They’d Like To See Play Luffy from One Piece of the poll conducted recently by Goo Ranking. Meanwhile, it would be a surprise for the fans that the heroine Charlotte Purin [sic] will not be played by a Japanese nationality, but a Chinese girl named Xie Leilei, a member of the Chinese Idol Girl Group GNZ48. She is called as The Girl from One Piece by her fans due to her resemblance to Charlotte Purin [sic] in the manga.

SOURCE: Business Wire, Yahoo Finance