April 19th, 2024 
Lauren Ashton 
NEW YORK, NY (April 17, 2024), Oscar-winning producer and distributor, GKIDS, announced its acquisition of the North American theatrical distribution rights for Mamoru Oshii’s acclaimed masterpiece, GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE. To celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary, GKIDS will release a restoration of the film in theaters throughout the nation in 4k this summer. Before the film is released nationwide, the new 4K restoration will premiere at the renowned Music Box Theatre in Chicago.
Originally premiering in 2004, the film is Oshii’s follow-up to his 1995 feature Ghost in the Shell, based on Shirow Masamune’s comic series. Intended to be a standalone return to the world of Ghost in the Shell, the film centers around Batou from the original movie. Similar to the 1995 Ghost in the Shell, GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE has been meticulously crafted by the renowned animation studio Production I.G, boasting a captivating and haunting score by composer Kenji Kawai. The movie is produced by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, co-founder of Production I.G and producer of the original 1995 feature, alongside Toshio Suzuki- co-founder of Studio Ghibli and an Academy Award® winner. Featuring mesmerizing visuals that required five years of production, GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE made its international premiere in competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, marking a historic milestone as the first and only anime to contend for the prestigious Palme d’Or.
The deal was made by Rodney Uhler of GKIDS and Francesco Prandoni of Production I.G., marking another collaboration between the two. The studio’s other films A Letter to Momo (2011), Giovanni’s Island (2014), Miss Hokusai (2015), and The Deer King (2021), were distributed by GKIDS as well.
“We’re honored to be working with the team at Production I.G in bringing this visionary film, from a true auteur, to theatrical audiences in North America,” GKIDS Director of Acquisitions and Development Rodney Uhler noted. “Mamoru Oshii was and remains, in many ways, a filmmaker ahead of his time so we’re thrilled to be able to share his film, with a beautiful, 4K remaster, with new and old audiences alike.”
SYNOPSIS
In the year 2032, the line between humans and machines has been blurred to almost nothing. A series of murders committed by a prototype android model has drawn the attention of Public Security Section 9- a specialized unit focusing on countering cyber-terrorism. As none of the victims’ families are pressing charges, suspicions begin to circulate regarding the nature of the androids and their company. Amidst the investigation, the almost fully cyber-bodied agent Batou, and his human counterpart Togusa embark on a voyage through a technological dystopia, confronting the ferocious Yakuza thugs, cunning hackers, bureaucratic officials, and corporate criminals to discover the shocking truth behind the crime.
ABOUT GKIDS
GKIDS is the Academy Award-winning producer and distributor of artist-driven and award-winning animation from around the world. After an astounding 13 Best Animated Feature nominations, the company took home the Oscar in 2024 for Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s acclaimed feature, The Boy and the Heron. The company’s previous nominations include The Secret of Kells in 2010, A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita in 2012, Ernest & Celestine in 2014, The Tale of The Princess Kaguya and Song of the Sea in 2015, Boy and the World and When Marnie Was There in 2016, My Life as a Zucchini in 2017, The Breadwinner in 2018, Mirai in 2019, Wolfwalkers in 2021, and The Boy and the Heron in 2024. For more than a decade, GKIDS’ influence on cinema has redefined the perception of animation as an artistic medium on par with live-action film through its stewardship of the Studio Ghibli catalog and by introducing American audiences to the critically acclaimed films of other master filmmakers from around the world such as Mamoru Hosoda (Mirai, Belle), Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells, Wolfwalkers), Benjamin Renner (Ernest & Celestine), Makoto Shinkai (Weathering With You), Nora Twomey (The Breadwinner), Alberto Vázquez (Unicorn Wars) and Masaaki Yuasa (Inu-Oh, The Night is Short, Walk on Girl), among countless others. Also, GKIDS is the founder and host of ANIMATION IS FILM, the annual LA-based film festival that embraces the highest aspirations of animation as a cinematic art form and is a vocal advocate for filmmakers who push the boundaries of the medium to its fullest range of artistic expressions.
ABOUT PRODUCTION I.G
Established in 1987, Tokyo-based Production I.G is one of the world’s leading animation studios, with titles such as Ghost in the Shell (1995), Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999), Blood: The Last Vampire (2000) and the animation segment in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) having earned critical accolades around the world for their sophisticated storytelling and highly cinematic visuals. The studio’s signature director-driven feature films include Mamoru Oshii’s Cannes Palme d’Or nominee Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence and Venice Golden Lion nominee The Sky Crawlers (2008); Hiroyuki Okiura’s A Letter to Momo (2012) that had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival and was Best Animated Feature Film at the New York International Children’s Film Festival; Mizuho Nishikubo’s Giovanni’s Island (2014), that garnered 15 international awards, including Annecy, Fantasia and the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival; and Keiichi Hara’s Miss Hokusai (2015), winner of the Jury Award at Annecy 2015, three awards at Fantasia 2015, Best Animated Feature Film at APSA 2015, and described by French newspaper Le Monde as “A lesson of elegance.” Recent animated series outputs include global hits such as the volleyball-themed Haikyu!!, Heavenly Delusion and Kaiju No. 8.
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