#GKIDS Acquires North American Theatrical Rights to Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

GKIDS has announced the acquisition of the North American theatrical rights to Mamoru Oshii‘s Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence 2004 anime film. A new 4K restoration of the film will premiere at the Chicago Critic’s Film Festival, followed by a nationwide release this Summer 2024 to celebrate its 20th anniversary. 

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence was first released in Japan on March 6, 2004 and serves as a sequel to Oshii’s 1985 Ghost in the Shell film. It was previously released in North America by Dreamworks Pictures, Bandai Entertainment, and Funimation. 

Oshii served as the Innocence’s director, screenwriter, and scriptwriter, with Hiroyuki Okiura (A Letter to Momo) as character designer, Shuichi Hirata (Psycho Pass) as art director, and Kenji Kawai (The Fire Hunter) as music composer. Production I.G was in charge of the animation production. 

The Ghost in the Shell franchise began with Masamune Shirow’s 1989 manga of the same name, and has inspired several manga sequels, anime films and TV series, a 2017 live-action adaptation, and a video game. 

GKIDS describes the film’s synopsis as: 

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. In the course of the investigation, the almost entirely cyber-bodied agent Batou, and his still human partner Togusa 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.

Source: GKIDS Official Twitter, Official Website