Now, with 100% less ScarJo!
Earlier today, Kodansha and Production I.G. announced that a they’re working on a new Ghost in the Shell anime project. As of press time, a specific release date and format have yet to be announced.
Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Eden of the East) and Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed (2004), Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01) are both attached to the project, though their specific roles on the staff are still unknown.
Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell manga originally made its début in Kodansha’s Young Magazine in May 1989. The project spanned one collected volume, which was released in the west by Dark Horse Comics. Kodansha Comics currently distributes the title in the North America.
The manga spawned a 1995 anime film from Production I.G., which was directed by Mamoru Oshii (Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer, Patlabor) at Production I.G. Hiroyuki Okiura (Zillion, Innocence: Ghost in the Shell 2) provided character designs on the project, while Kazunori Ito (Patlabor, Urusei Yatsura) wrote the screenplay.
The feature first hit Japanese theaters in November 1995. Manga Entertainment released the title in North America on June 18, 1996, on VHS. The feature quickly became a pop culture phenomenon, becoming the first anime film to take the #1 spot in the Billboard sales charts. The DVD version would come two years later, in 1998, courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment. Manga released the film on Blu-Ray in 2009, which was followed by a remastered release by Anchor Bay that hit stores in 2014 (and was re-released in 2016).
Last year, Lionsgate acquired Anchor Bay. The company released own Blu-Ray version, which hit retailers on March 7. They describe the film as:
In the year 2029, cybernetic government agent, Major Motoko Kusanagi and the Internal Bureau of Investigations are hot on the trail of “The Puppet Master”—a mysterious and threatening computer virus is capable of infiltrating human hosts. Working closely with her fellow agents from Section 9, the Major embarks on a high-tech race against time to capture the omnipresent entity.
Paramount Pictures released a live-action Ghost in the Shell movie on March 31. The feature, which received backlash through production for accusations of whitewashing (among other issues), under-performed in its opening weekend. The movie pulled in just $18.7 million, down from original expectations of $32.5 million.
Paramount’s feature opened in Japanese theaters earlier today.
Source: Production I.G.
