Akira Returning To US and Canadian Cinemas In 4K and IMAX

Cinemas are a great way to watch the latest new releases. But it can also be an awesome way to watch older films the way they were intended to be seen, whether you are revisiting or experiencing it for the first time. Distributors are increasingly giving the audience the chance to watch classics in cinemas through rereleases.

Crunchyroll have announced that they will bring Akira back to select theatres in the United States and Canada this September. It will screen in 4K and IMAX, so will look better than ever before. The film is distributed by Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Few films can be said to have the impact of Katsuhiro Otomo's 1988 masterpiece. Its animation and visuals still wow nearly 40 years later and its mind-melting plot is still blowing minds. It recently received a highly successful rerelease in the UK and Ireland, taking over a million pounds and becoming one of the top-grossing UK anime releases of all time.

Crunchyroll enthuses, " iconic and game-changing, Akira is the definitive anime masterpiece! Katsuhiro Otomo's landmark cyberpunk classic obliterated the boundaries of Japanese animation and forced the world to look into the future. Akira's arrival shattered traditional thinking, creating space for future generations of ground-breaking movies."

It used to be that every anime fan had seen Akira. Now, with physical media in terminal decline and the film unavailable on streaming, that's no longer the case. This is the perfect opportunity to correct that- and there's no better way to watch it for the first time than on the big screen.

July, 1988— World War III breaks loose. Then, in 2019, in megalopolis Tokyo...

As the leader of a group of young robust delinquents, Kaneda spent his nights tearing through the urban wastes, racing his motorbike against rival groups. One night while riding with his gang, his friend Tetsuo suddenly encounters a strange boy― the product of human experimentation— and is injured in the ensuing crash. Shortly thereafter, a military squadron appears on the scene to take the boy and Tetsuo away to an army research facility. Determined to free Tetsuo from capture, Kaneda sneaks into the army research lab. However, a regimen of extreme experimental procedures has awakened a new power in his friend, and now he is consumed by madness…

Akira will screen with both English dub and in Japanese with subtitles. Check with your venue for details. The film will open on September 4, 2026.