News

Exclusive: Lionsgate Previews Video Extras for 4K Release of Ghost in the Shell Film in Video

Lionsgate provided ANN with an exclusive clip on Friday for its Ultra-High Definition (UHD) 4K Blu-ray Disc and Digital 4K Ultra HD release of Mamoru Oshii's 1995 Ghost in the Shell film. The clip features Stefan Riekeles sharing insights about art director Hiromasa Ogura's creative process for creating the background art for the film.

Lionsgate describes the film:

2029: A female 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 capable of infiltrating human hosts. Together with her fellow agents from Section 9, Kusanagi embarks on a high-tech race against time to capture the omnipresent entity. Director Mamoru Oshii's award-winning cyber-tech thriller, based on the comic book by Shirow Masamune, is lauded as one of the leading Japanese animation films of all time.

Lionsgate will release the film on Ultra-High Definition (UHD) 4K Blu-ray Disc and Digital 4K Ultra HD on September 8. The remaster will feature Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, and it will include new bonus featurettes and artwork from illustrator Martin Ansin. The release will commemorate the film's 25th anniversary.

Funimation partnered with Lionsgate to screen the film in theaters in the United States in February 2017.

Oshii and Production I.G's 1995 film is based on Masamune Shirow's manga of the same name. Manga Entertainment released the film in the United States on VHS in 1996, and Anchor Bay Entertainment released it on DVD in 1998. Manga Entertainment re-released the film on Blu-ray Disc in 2009, and Anchor Bay Entertainment also re-released the film on Blu-ray Disc in 2014, and again in 2016. The film began streaming as Starz Programming on Canada's Crave streaming service in April. Oshii directed the Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence 2004 film as a sequel.

Production I.G produced the 2002 Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex television anime and its TV sequel, original video anime (OVAs), and film. In 2013, Production I.G adapted the material into the Ghost in the Shell Arise prequel OVA, which it later remixed into a television series. Most recently, the studio debuted Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie in 2015 and the Ghost in the Shell VR Diver smartphone video in 2017.

Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, the new 3D CG Ghost in the Shell anime, debuted on Netflix worldwide on April 23.

Dark Horse Comics and later Kodansha Comics published Shirow's original 1991 manga and its sequels in North America.

DreamWorks and Paramount's live-action film adaptation starring Scarlett Johansson opened in the United States in March 2017, and opened in Japan in April 2017.

Source: Email correspondence