[Team Yu]

In January 2001, Shenmue: The Movie was released in select theaters in Japan, enabling audiences to catch up on the story of the first game through a collection of cutscene and gameplay footage ahead of the sequel's release later in the year.

Now, sixteen years later, an expanded, remastered version will receive its own public viewing at MAGFest 2017.

MAGFest (Music And Gaming Festival) is a four-day event near Washington, DC, beginning January 5th. The unofficial remastering of the movie has been painstakingly produced by Brett McFee, a/k/a Mr .357, a regular participant in the monthly #SaveShenmueHD Tweetathon.

Indeed, the nearly five-hour, widescreen movie (which you can view online) demonstrates how a straight remastering of the game could look, if Sega were to greenlight such a project.

Brett is currently working on a follow-up using scenes from the second game, which of course never received the official movie treatment because there was no Shenmue III to promote (until now). He aims for the new movie to be completed in time for a live premiere via Shenmue Dojo's Twitch channel during the December 3rd Tweetathon. We'll keep you posted on details nearer the time.

If you'd like to attend MAGFest for the screening of the remastered first movie and other gaming-related attractions, GamesOnFilm.com has full ticket information.

For more on the #SaveShenmueHD campaign, see TeamYu.net/HD