The new VIVANT film is scheduled to open in Japan on Friday, December 4, 2026, with an IMAX release on the same date. TBS says lead actor Masato Sakai announced the film near the end of the second season’s finale on November 8. Advance sales for opening-day and later screenings were scheduled to begin at midnight between November 8 and 9 at participating cinemas, with some venues excluded. That sale time is nearly a month before the release itself.
The announcement sets out three different things for viewers to look up. The film has a Japanese theatrical opening date. Participating cinemas set their own available performances and booking details. The two television seasons are also available through services listed by TBS, with a rolling free release on TVer and TBS FREE. Those streaming notices concern the television episodes. They do not set a home-viewing date for the new film.
TBS film announcement and television streaming links
The dates that matter and what each one means
November 8 was the date of episode 24, the television finale. The film announcement came near the end of the broadcast, according to TBS. November 9 at 00:00 Japan Standard Time was the planned start of unusually early ticket sales at participating cinemas. December 4 is the announced first day of the theatrical release. Each date belongs to a different step. Seeing a cinema sales notice in November does not mean that the film is showing in November. Seeing the television finale listed on November 8 does not give the film’s opening date.
The wording of the Japanese announcement gives the sales time as November 8 at 24:00 and then spells out the equivalent, November 9 at 00:00. Both refer to midnight after Sunday evening. It is the same instant whether a notice treats it as the end of Sunday or the beginning of Monday. A calendar that only accepts hours from zero through 23 will usually display it on November 9. The December 4 screening date is separate from either way of writing that midnight.
That distinction is also useful outside Japan. Convert the booking time from Japan Standard Time if you are following it from another country. The dates you see in a local calendar can differ from the Japanese dates without any change in the underlying event. For the theatrical performance itself, use the date and local time displayed by the Japanese cinema. A visit to a venue involves a local showtime, while a notice about the moment a sales page opens can be converted to wherever you happen to be when checking it.
What a cinema listing can actually confirm
TBS and Toho announced an early sales start across participating theatres, with exceptions. The published theatre directory provides venue-level information. Some rows indicate that the cinema does not plan to take part in the midnight launch. That kind of note applies to the advance sales window, and the cinema’s own programme is the place to confirm when it plans to sell seats and which dates it will show the film.
Look for three items when reading a listing. First, check that the name and city match the venue you want. A chain can operate several cinemas in a city, and a search result may take you to the wrong branch. Second, match the performance date to your intended visit. An opening-day listing and a later screening can sit on the same page. Third, check the format attached to the particular performance. A nationwide simultaneous IMAX release does not mean every cinema or every time slot is IMAX.
The directory is a starting point, especially if the nearest cinema’s own listing is difficult to find. A named venue in a directory and a session with seats on the cinema site are different levels of detail. The former identifies a place connected to the release. The latter gives the actual performance time and whether that session has gone on sale. If an early listing has no usable showtime, the venue may publish its programme closer to release. There is no need to interpret a blank time field as a change to the national opening date.
Official participating theatre directory
The film and the television finale are separate releases
The VIVANT title belongs both to the television drama and to the new film. TBS describes the film as a new work and gives it a separate theatrical date. The film notice credits Katsuo Fukuzawa with the original work, screenplay, directing and producing and names Masato Sakai in the cast. The same page keeps details of the film’s story under wraps. Those credits and the release plan establish what has been announced without requiring readers to look up spoilers from episode 24.
The television series began in 2023. TBS describes the second season as a continuation of Yusuke Nogi’s story from the end of the earlier series. It numbered the new episodes starting at 11, and the November finale was episode 24. That continuous numbering can be confusing if an app presents the programmes as separate seasons and starts a new menu at episode one. Check the year, season name and synopsis before choosing where to resume. The programme’s own season and episode pages give a more reliable match than a search result with only the title.
A viewer can follow the release announcement without first watching the finale. The announcement identifies the format, release date and lead without requiring the ending. For a viewer who wants to watch in order, the earlier episodes give the context that the second season assumes. Use the broadcaster’s series page to match the episode titles, but consider stopping before the synopsis if you want to avoid learning how a storyline resolves. The episode listing and the cinema information serve different kinds of readers.
TBS’s official VIVANT series page
How the streaming notices fit into the release
TBS said it would make episodes from seasons one and two available in stages for free on TVer and TBS FREE after the November 8 finale. A staged release means a service can offer different episodes at different times. Check the episode page for its own availability and expiry details. A general notice for the series can remain visible after a particular episode moves out of a free window. The same announcement said both seasons were streaming in full on U-NEXT. Check the service’s own title page for its current terms and access in your location.
It helps to begin with the broadcaster’s own links, because there are two TBS FREE programme pages listed in the announcement. A page for one season may not contain the episode you expect from the other. The TVer listing can also include related clips, while an episode page will normally have its own number and duration. If the goal is to rewatch the story in order, write down the last episode you finished and compare it with the number on the programme page. That prevents a recap, behind-the-scenes item or next-season clip from substituting for the next episode.
Streaming availability and cinema availability also have different geography. The theatre opening announced here is for Japan. The broadcaster’s streaming links point to services carrying the television programme, whose own access conditions apply. An announcement naming a Japanese platform is not an international distribution plan for the film. If you are outside Japan, the right question for the film is whether a distributor has announced a release for your location. The Japanese release date remains useful context while that information is separate.
TVer’s official VIVANT series listing
TBS FREE’s second-season listing
The opening ceremony is another date to read separately
TBS also announced an opening ceremony in Tokyo at 16:00 on December 4, with a free live stream planned. That is the date the film opens, but the ceremony time is an event time, rather than a general showtime for theatres. A local cinema can have its own screening schedule that afternoon or evening. If you are looking for the ceremony stream, follow the film site’s event details. If you are looking for a screening, use the theatre listing instead.
The ceremony announcement is useful for people who want to follow the release without immediately going to a cinema. It describes a planned stream of the event. It does not describe a live stream of the feature film. The difference is clear once you match each item to the noun in the notice. The ceremony is a promotional event. The screening is a performance of the movie. The television episodes are a separate catalogue. All three can appear in one announcement because they are part of the same release campaign.
Readers checking a calendar after December 4 should also pay attention to whether a page is announcing an event, listing an archived clip or showing current screenings. An announcement can remain online after its time has passed. A cinema listing can continue to update while the notice that launched advance sales remains fixed. Following the links from the official film page helps you identify which piece is current for the task at hand.
A quick guide to finding the right page
If you want the date the new film opens, use the Toho film page or TBS’s announcement and look for December 4. If you want to know when a particular cinema started advance sales, check its entry in the theatre directory and then its own schedule. If you want to watch the drama before going, use the TBS series page to select the season and check the individual episode window on the streaming service. The series pages can contain plot descriptions. The date and booking information are available on the release pages without needing those descriptions.
It is worth checking language and accessibility information separately where a venue provides it. An IMAX label describes the cinema presentation format. A subtitle or accessibility label describes a feature of a particular performance or edition. The announcement of a format does not specify the language or access features of every screening. For more on reading those labels, see our guide to checking the exact edition and accessibility features. For this film, the individual listing is the place to check for a specific service or feature.
The Japanese word for a cinema, 劇場, can help distinguish venue information from the television listing. The film site leads to a directory organised by area, whereas the broadcaster’s season links lead to programme or episode pages. Even without reading the surrounding promotional copy, the combination of the film title, the December 4 date and a venue name identifies the relevant listing. A page that names an episode number or a television service belongs to a different part of the release.
Why the film query appeared in Japan’s trending searches
The Google Trends Japan capture taken at 17:18 UTC on November 8 showed “vivant 映画” in second place by displayed search volume. The view covered the past 24 hours across all categories and trend statuses. Google displayed 500K+ and marked the query Active. The character string 映画 means film, and the related queries included wording about tickets. Those details point to the film and its early sale as relevant subjects for an article, rather than treating every search for the franchise as a question about the finale.
The time of the capture in Japan was already early on November 9. That is consistent with the different calendar dates used for the finale and midnight sales launch. The displayed volume band does not tell us how many readers booked a screening, watched the television finale or used a particular platform. It gives a dated view of search activity around the release. For the concrete planning information, the dates in the distributor and broadcaster announcements are the stronger evidence. The film opens on December 4, with cinema-specific details handled by the venues, and the earlier television episodes have their own viewing windows.
Sources consulted 8 November 2026, Bangladesh time.