Viz Media has acquired the rights to Bleach the Movie: Memories of Nobody and is planning a theatrical release in major cities in North America this summer before issuing the film on DVD in the fourth quarter.  Bleach the Movie: Memories of Nobody is the first of two (at least so far) animated movies based on the manga created by Tite Kubo (and published here by Viz Media).  The 90-minute animated feature, which was directed by Noriyuki Abe (director of the Bleach TV anime), was shown theatrically in Japan in December of 2006 with the Japanese DVD release following in September of 2007.

Kubo's Bleach manga follows the adventures of a teenage boy who can see spirits and who becomes a soul reaper charged with protecting his city and friends from the ravages of evil spirits known as "Hollows."  In the Bleach manga Kubo has created a vast, intricate, and ultimately fascinating cosmology of humans and spirits that encompasses both the living and the dead and extends across several planes of existence.  So far 32 volumes of the ongoing Bleach series have been released in Japan where they have sold over 40 million copies. 

Bleach has been a solid top five manga property here in the U.S. (#4 on ICv2's list of the "Top 50 Manga Properties" in the forthcoming ICv2 Guide #54: Anime/Manga) since shortly after the Bleach anime began airing on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim in September of 2006.  The ongoing Bleach anime series remains popular in Japan where has reached 165 episodes.  In addition to the anime from Studio Pierrot, there have been two Bleach OVAs, two feature films (Bleach: The Diamond Dust Rebellion premiered in Japan last December), a rock musical, a popular collectible card game, and numerous videogames all based on the popular property.