'Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry' release date, latest news: Second 'Fairy Tail' anime film to premiere this spring

Japanese film distributor GAGA recently revealed a teaser poster for the second anime film from the popular manga "Fairy Tail," titled "Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry."

The promotional photo was published on the studio's official website. The announcement confirmed not only the title of the second "Fairy Tail" movie, but it also shared that the feature is slated for release sometime in spring this year in Japan.

An official Twitter account for the upcoming movie was also created to update manga and anime fans about any news or information about the development of "Fairy Tail: Dragon Fly" before its premiere.

The "Fairy Tail" franchise is known for being slow in releasing feature films despite the massive success and popularity of Hiro Mashima's manga and its anime TV series adaptation. The anime's first movie, "Fairy Tail The Movie: Phoenix Princess," was released in Japanese theaters in 2012. A second "Fairy Tail" feature film was announced back in May 2015 by Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine.

Despite the five-year gap between the two film projects, the "Fairy Tail" franchise has only grown more popular than it was before.

The "Fairy Tail" manga and anime series follows the story of young, powerful wizards who are part of the Fairy Tail Guild. The plot is set in a fictional Earth and begins with a young boy named Natsu forming an unlikely friendship with Lucy Heartfilia, who has dreams of becoming a powerful wizard.

Natsu and Lucy head to the kingdom of Fiore, and they are later joined by Happy, Gray Fullbuster, and Erza. Their team uses each of their powerful and equally unique abilities in order to defeat countless demons that threaten the lives of innocent people.

So far, more than 250 episodes of the anime series have aired, and fans expect more episodes to come this new year.

"Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry" is scheduled to hit theaters sometime in spring 2017 in Japan. There are no announcements yet about its U.S. premiere date.