Movie News!

Ghost in the Shell Joins the Rehash Trend!

Following in the footsteps of Rebuild of Evangelion, the legendary Ghost in the Shell film from 1995 is going to be re-released in theaters in Japan with some shiny changes on July 12th! New computer generated graphics and digital effects will be added, as well as a brand new 6.1 surround sound recording. The sound mixing is under the helm of Randy Thom, who worked on GiTS 2: Innocence, and used George Lucas' Skywalker Sound as his home base for this project. The re-release makes a lot of use of 3-D CGI technology pioneered in the years since the original. Unfortunately, the first film did not do very well in its limited release in US theaters, but observed a much bigger following on DVD and Home Video. Mamoru Oshii stated that he really wanted to give this movie another chance in theaters, especially since technology has come a long way since 1995. He was most happy that the technology allowed for them to have better control over the color, which was very hard to keep consistent with the cels they used in 1995. They call the re-release Ghost in the Shell 2.0 , not because it is a continuation of where the film left off, but an evolution given upgrades to technology. The biggest change in this movie, lies in their choice of Seiyuu. Yoshiko Sakakibara (Queen Nehelenia) will be playing the voice of The Puppet Master, who was played by a man in 1995! We are unsure if Shigeru Chiba's (Kurumiwario) or Ginzo Matsuo's (Sailor Police Cop) voices have been used or replaced in the movie at this time. Ginzo had a small role as an old man, and Shigeru played a garbage collector. Oshii has said he would like this to come out on DVD, but at this point he is unsure if it will. The limited release of this movie (only 5 cities!) precedes the premiere of his latest film, The Sky Crawlers.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time Finally Makes North American Debut!

A movie we have been keeping our eyes on for quite a while now is finally being released to North America. Sadly, it's only a limited cinema release for now. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time will be playing in Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York very soon - check the link for details! The website also features a short trailer of the English dub, but we are looking forward to seeing the award-winning subbed version. Bandai expects to announce more theatrical dates soon - now would be a great time to hound your independent cinemas to bring this film to your hometown! Tell your local indie cinema operators to give Bandai Entertainment or Kadokawa Pictures USA a shout for more information on getting this movie. For those of our fans a little rusty on this movie's connection to Sailor Moon, this film was directed by Mamoru Hosada, who worked as a key animator on the Sailor Moon S Movie.