Umamusume: Pretty Derby Beginning of a New Era Will Get a One-Day-Only North American Theater Release

If you’re not familiar with Umamusume: Pretty Derby, it’s an exceedingly popular franchise from Cygames centered around a mobile game that launched in 2021. It features the Umamusume, or women with some of the features (such as ears and tails) and abilities of horses who participate in races styled after real-world historical horse races. In the game this takes the form of a sports simulation game where players train Umamusume to compete in various raises and meet certain, character-specific goals.

Across the mobile game, a multi-season anime, a manga, and various other spinoffs, Umamusume has covered the stories of multiple characters based on real-world race horses from the ’90s, ’00s, and ’10s. The film, Beginning of a New Era, released in Japan on May 24, 2024 and follows Jungle Pocket, based on the real-world horse of the same name, and her rivalries with Agnes Tachyon, Manhattan Cafe, and Dantsu Flame. In the film, Jungle Pocket trains with veteran trainer Tanabe in an effort to win the Triple Crown, a series of three races that can only be competed in once in a lifetime.

Umamusume: Pretty Derby launched in the U.S. in July of last year and only increased its popularity from what it already enjoyed in Japan. So much so that fans are now paying attention to the real-life horses that inspired their fictional counterparts, cheering them on, and even mourning the death of one last year.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.