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Lollipop Chainsaw is getting a live-action movie. The project was officially announced on September 19, 2026, during the “LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW NEW PROJECT” stage show at Tokyo Game Show 2026. A release window has not been set.
Honestly, I was following the stage show and let out an audible “oh, we’re going all the way to a movie?” The day before, the first gameplay footage from LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW 2 Back2Back had just gone public, and this IP has been playing very aggressively with how it drops information at Tokyo Game Show 2026. Then the movie news landed on top of it.
A chainsaw-swinging high school cheerleader named Juliet Starling, and her boyfriend Nick, who is now just a head. Fourteen years after the 2012 original and one 2024 remake later — Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP — the series is finally stepping outside of games. The producers who took the stage were running weirdly hot, too.
This article separates what is actually locked in from what still isn’t, and rounds up the release window and platform for the game, LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW 2 Back2Back.
Let’s start with the thing everyone wants answered first: live-action or anime?
Is the Lollipop Chainsaw movie live-action or anime?
It’s live-action. What was announced on the Tokyo Game Show 2026 stage is a live-action film, not an animated one.
That’s a quietly big deal. Juliet Starling is a character built on poppy colors and comic-book-style exaggeration, and plenty of people figured animation was the better fit. Instead, the team went out of its way to commit to live-action.
The source material, 2012’s Lollipop Chainsaw, was a game slathered in homages to B-movie horror. Zombies, cheerleaders, rockabilly, gleefully tasteless gags. Bringing that vibe back into live-action is arguably a return to its roots. Personally, this is the most interesting part of the whole announcement to me.
Who is producing the movie? The two people who took the stage
Two names were given as film producers: Kirk Shaw and Robert Frank. Both appeared on the Tokyo Game Show 2026 stage and talked through how the project came together.
When the movie offer came in, I said yes because I wanted to take Juliet to Hollywood
Source:Famitsu.com
That one line from Shaw basically contains the entire direction of the project. This isn’t about keeping things small as a local cult item — he took it on the assumption that it would run at Hollywood scale.
I thought it was exciting to imagine that something wonderful might happen if this IP were expanded onto a giant screen
Source:Famitsu.com
Frank’s comment boils down to the same thing: they’re competing on scale. Live-action movies based on games are a notoriously hit-or-miss genre, but at minimum you can tell the people making this one aren’t treating the source material as small. As a former game shop clerk, that’s the part that puts me most at ease.
When does the movie come out? Everything announced so far
The release window is TBA. As of the September 19, 2026 announcement, no release year, distributor, cast, or director has been made public.
What was announced is the fact that a live-action film has been greenlit, plus the producer lineup. In other words, this is an announcement that the project has started moving, not that a production schedule is locked. Worth keeping expectations level here.
| Item | Announced as of September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Live-action film |
| Producers | Kirk Shaw / Robert Frank |
| Release window | TBA |
| Director / cast | Not announced |
| Where it was announced | Tokyo Game Show 2026 official stage show (September 19, 2026) |
Flip that around, though, and everything from here on out is brand-new information. Who directs, and who plays Juliet. The moment those two drop, the fandom is going to lose it all over again.
When does the game LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW 2 Back2Back release?
LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW 2 Back2Back is slated for 2027 on PlayStation 5. Pricing is TBA.
The first all-new entry in the series, it’s being published by NADA HOLDINGS and developed by JP UNIVERSE, with Dragami Games handling the license. It was playable on the show floor at Tokyo Game Show 2026, where gameplay footage debuted.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Title | LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW 2 Back2Back |
| Release window | Slated for 2027 |
| Platform | PlayStation 5 |
| Price | TBA |
| Genre | Zombie action |
The one thing that worries me right now is that it’s PS5 exclusive. As someone whose constant companion is a Steam Deck, I’d really like to hear more about a PC version. All I can do is pray on that one.
Why is Lollipop Chainsaw getting a movie now?
The thing that built this momentum is the 2024 remake, Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP. That’s where the series came back to current-gen hardware and picked up a wave of new fans.
The 2012 original had long been difficult to re-release, in part because of licensed music rights. RePOP untangled that and got the game back onto modern platforms, and without that single move there’d be no all-new 2027 entry and no movie.
From there, the plan is to widen the series out across formats: games and film. On stage, the team said the fact that this IP can work across multiple formats is part of what pushed the project over the line. Wake up a dormant IP, and two years later you’ve got a new game and a movie. That’s a fast turnaround.
My general stance is that my faves can stay 2D, thanks — but a live-action Juliet is the one exception I’d genuinely like to see. Yes, I’m aware that contradicts itself.
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Lollipop Chainsaw movie roundup: what’s confirmed and what to watch for
On September 19, 2026, a live-action Lollipop Chainsaw film was announced during the official stage show at Tokyo Game Show 2026. The producers are Kirk Shaw and Robert Frank. The release window, director, and cast are all still TBA.
Alongside it, the game LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW 2 Back2Back is slated for 2027 on PlayStation 5. Pricing is TBA, with NADA HOLDINGS publishing and JP UNIVERSE developing.
Let me be straight about the concerns, too. The movie news amounts to a project kickoff and nothing concrete on scheduling. Live-action adaptations of games often drag out for years, so the right posture is to settle in and wait for updates.
Put the series back on current hardware with RePOP in 2024, then reveal a new game and a movie at the same time in 2026. That one-two setup is clearly engineered for the long haul. Going live-action tracks, too, once you remember that the original was rooted in B-movie horror homage. The announcement itself is still just a skeleton, but the core of this project looks solid.
Next up: the director and whoever plays Juliet. The second that drops, I’m chasing it with everything I’ve got.
*Information in this article is current as of September 19, 2026. Release windows, release dates, and pricing are subject to change.
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