According to Yahoo Movies, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie will open in January in theaters in New York and Los Angeles and slowly expand to other cities.  The film, which is based on the popular anime series that is currently doing extremely well in the 'Adult Swim' Block on the Cartoon Network (see 'Anime Ratings Soar'), was known as Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' On Heaven's Door in Japan.  Retitled Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, the feature played to great acclaim at the recent Big Apple Anime Festival (see 'Anime Cons Continue To Grow').

 

One very interesting tidbit mentioned in the article is that Columbia Tristar is planning on providing theaters with both dubbed and subbed prints.  This could allow theaters to have special showings of the film with its original Japanese soundtrack.  Although no recent anime theatrical release has come anywhere close to the money earned by the first Pokemon movie (released at the height of the boom), the increasing number of anime theatrical releases testifies to the heightened interest in anime that is fueling DVD, manga, and merchandise sales.