Katsuhiro Otomo’s 1988 AKIRA anime film is returning to select theaters in the United States and Canada for 4K and IMAX screenings on September 4, 2026. A key visual and trailer have also been released.
©1988 MASH・ROOM / AKIRA COMMITTEE All Rights Reserved.
The anime film will be distributed by Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment, and will be available in Japanese with English subtitles and English dub language.
AKIRA was released in Japan on July 16, 1988. Otomo directed and co-wrote the screenplay at Tokyo Movie Shinsha.
It is based on Otomo’s science fiction manga series of the same name, which was serialized in Kodansha’s Young Magazine from December 20, 1982 to June 25, 1990. Six total tankobon volumes were originally released in Japan. Kodansha USA releases the manga in English and has published the series in deluxe hardcover format.
A new AKIRA anime project was announced to be in development back in 2019.
Crunchyroll describes the main synopsis of AKIRA as:
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…
Source: press release
