More than twenty-five years after its initial release, Mamoru Oshii’s acclaimed 1995 film Ghost in the Shell is getting a new theatrical showcase, this time in 4K. According to Anime News Network, the remastered version of the film is coming to both the United States and Japan on September 17th, including 76 IMAX theaters in the US and 35 IMAX theaters in Japan. Regular theater screenings will follow in Japan beginning October 1st. The 4K version already played in Hong Kong on March 11th.
This marks the latest opportunity fans of the classic anime, which is set in the year 2029 and follows a cybernetic government agent pursuing a computer virus called The Puppet Master, have to interact with its content, which is based on Masamune Shirow’s manga. The film has enjoyed numerous releases in the United States from Manga Entertainment and Anchor Bay Entertainment, beginning with VHS in 1996, DVD in 1998, Blu-ray in 2009, 2014, and 2016, and, most recently, on UHD 4K Blu-ray and Digital 4K Ultra HD last September via Lionsgate.
Additional companion projects from Production I.G. include Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, released in 2004 and directed by Oshii, Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie in 2015, and TV series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex in 2002 and Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045 in 2020, along with original video animes. Dreamworks and Paramount made a live-action version of the story, which starred Scarlett Johansson and opened in 2017.
