Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time is in theaters now, but only in Japan. However, despite the singular release country and the ongoing pandemic, it’s doing pretty well over there. According to Deadline (which comes by way of Kotaku), Khara raked in 828 million yen ($7.6 million) on opening day alone. And that’s despite curfews of 8 PM in some parts of the country due to the state of emergency.
However, that success has also come with a spike in sightings online of pirated versions of Evangelion: 3.0+1.0.
"Multiple pirated recordings taken in theaters of the feature film Evangelion 3.0+1.0 have been confirmed," writes Khata Studio in a Twitter post in both Japanese and English.
"There has been detected incidents of pirated movie recordings of the feature film Evangelion: 3.0+1.0, currently in theaters, found on online [sic]. Recording movies in theaters is a crime according to the Act on Prevention of Unauthorized Recording of Films,” Khara adds, before dropping the hammer: “Copyright infringement violates the Act on Prevention of Unauthorized Recording of Films and the Copyright Act, and may result in up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to 10 million yen, or both."
So yeah, don't go around pirating the new Evangelion movie in Japan, even if you post them online anonymously. As Khara so ominously puts it, "The source of even anonymous uploads can be identified."
We're still waiting on a release date for Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 here in North America, but if it's like the previous three films, we'll get one eventually. As with everything these days, patience is a virtue.