Naruto Film Announcement Expected at New York Comic Con Panel
The announcement arrives while the franchise's 20th-anniversary episodes remain delayed, with the anime's 25th anniversary coming in 2027 and the project's identity still unspecified in the reports.
Key Facts
- The Naruto panel at New York Comic Con 2026 is scheduled for October 10 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York.
- Variety reports the panel is expected to include an announcement related to a new animated Naruto film and its worldwide premiere details.
- Junko Takeuchi and Noriaki Sugiyama, the Japanese voices of Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, are confirmed as panel guests.
- Studio Pierrot executive producer Yoshihiko Tominaga and a Bandai representative will also appear at the panel.
- The Naruto Card Game is set for 2027, and a non-verbal live-action show runs at Kyoto's Minamiza Theater from February to June 2027.
Reporting from 2 sources: Anime Corner, Animehunch.
A new Naruto anime film is expected to be announced during a franchise panel at New York Comic Con 2026, according to a Variety exclusive report. The panel, held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on October 10, will also cover the Naruto Card Game. Variety reports the panel will include the worldwide premiere details for the animated film, new information and the first promotional video for the Naruto Card Game, and other surprise announcements. Junko Takeuchi, the Japanese voice of Naruto Uzumaki, and Noriaki Sugiyama, the Japanese voice of Sasuke Uchiha, are confirmed as guests. Studio Pierrot executive producer Yoshihiko Tominaga and a Bandai representative will also appear. VIZ Media has teased that a new project will be announced. The franchise has 11 theatrical films and 12 OVAs to date, according to Animehunch. A Naruto Card Game is set for 2027, and a non-verbal live-action show is scheduled at Kyoto's Minamiza Theater from February to June 2027.
The panel is titled "NARUTO: What's Next?" and will run at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on October 10. Variety describes the slate as "an announcement related to a new animated film along with its worldwide premiere, new information and the first promotional video for the Naruto Card Game, and additional surprise announcements regarding other media developments."
The franchise background gives the panel its shape:
- Masashi Kishimoto's manga ran in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump from September 1999 to November 2014, ending at 72 volumes.
- The first Studio Pierrot anime premiered in October 2002 and ran 220 episodes.
- Naruto Shippuden ran 500 episodes and concluded in March 2017.
- The four-episode 20th-anniversary special was pushed back in August 2023 "to improve quality," and no new premiere date has been set.
- Boruto: Naruto Next Generations paused in March 2023, with Two Blue Vortex starting in August 2023.
- A live-action film from director Destin Daniel Cretton has begun a cast search for Team 7's Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura.
Animehunch notes the 25th anniversary of the anime arrives in 2027, which has fed rumors that a new anime project is in the works.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.