Satoshi Kon's new anime feature, Paprika, was shown at the Venice International Film Festival where it was seen (and reviewed) by Variety's Leslie Felperin.  Though not infallible, Variety's no-nonsense, business-oriented reviews often provide great insight into the commercial prospects of a film, and the verdict on Kon's Paprika, which was produced by Madhouse, is largely favorable.  Felperin writes that 'Paprika has a better chance than most Nipponese toons of breaking out of the specialty ghetto by appealing to female auds as well as the genre's core constituency of fanboys...Hot B.O. is expected from Japan, with, at the least, warm ancillary sales offshore.'

Felperin compares Paprika, which is based on a notable Japanese science fiction novel from 1993 (see 'Satoshi Kon Returns to Features'), to such cult sci-fi films as Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days and David Cronenberg's eXistenZ.  Sony plans to give Paprika a theatrical release in March of 2007 (see 'Paprika Gets Theatrical Release'), which means the DVD should be available sometime next spring or summer.