As the world outside our doors continues to ever-devolve into a cyberpunk dystopia, Bandai Namco Filmworks has declassified a pair of new Ghost in the Shell projects – one a brand new project, and the other a new restoration of a fan-favorite film.
RELATED: Ghost In The Shell 4K Remaster To See Limited Time IMAX Release Later This Month
On May 25th, Bandai Namco Filmworks announced that in honor of the 35th anniversary of Shirow Masamune’s seminal manga, they had greenlit a new animated cinematic entry in the Ghost in the Shell franchise.
Produced by Science SARU, and the Ghost in the Shell series’ production committee – consisting of Bandai Namco Filmworks, the manga’s publisher Kodansha, as well as the anime’s long time production studio Production IG – the new film will reportedly be “based on the Golden Globe Award-nominated animated film The Dog King, as well as the TV anime segments Don’t Mess with the Video Lab! and The Color of My Heart.”
Further, upon its release, the film will “will be entered into the Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2024 Feature Length Competition.”
And though fans will have to wait until 2025 to see the Major’s next official sortie, June will see GKIDS offer a holdover in the form of a three-day, theatrical screening of a brand new 4K restoration of Mamoru Oshii’s 2004, award-winning Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, as produced in honor of the film’s own 20th anniversary.
Per a synopsis of groundbreaking film provided by GKIDS official website ,”In the year 2032, the line between humans and machines has been blurred almost beyond distinction. A string of murders perpetrated by a prototype android model has drawn the attention of Public Security Section 9, a unit specializing in counter cyber-terrorism.”
“With none of the victims’ families pressing charges, suspicions arise regarding the nature of the androids and their production company” it continues. “In the course of the investigation, the almost entirely cyber-bodied agent Batou, and his still human partner Togusa (CV: Koichi Yamadera – Gentle Criminal in My Hero Academia) embark on a journey through a technological dystopia, taking on ferocious Yakuza thugs, devious hackers, government bureaucrats, and corporate criminals to uncover the shocking truth behind the crime.”
The 4K restored Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is scheduled to be screened in Japanese with English subtitles select North American theaters on June 23rd, 24th and 25th.
Ahead of the nationwide 4K screening, the New York Japan Society, GKIDS and Anime NYC will be holding a special double screening of the 4K restored editions of both Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence on June 15th
