Angel’s Egg returns to theaters for 40th anniversary
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Angel’s Egg, the 1985 science-fantasy anime movie from writer-director Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell) and artist Yoshitaka Amano (Final Fantasy, Vampire Hunter D), is coming to movie theaters this November with a new “director-approved” 4K remaster, courtesy of distributor GKIDS. The re-release will be a rare chance to see Angel’s Egg on the big screen — the film was originally released directly to home video in Japan.
The remastered re-release of Angel’s Egg will be the first time it’s been screened widely in North America. The restoration debuted at the Cannes International Film Festival in May, and will be screened at upcoming events Fantastic Fest and New York Film Festival. But audiences across North America will get a chance to see it on Nov. 19, as part of GKIDS’ rollout.
Here’s the official, mostly spoiler-free synopsis for Angel’s Egg, if you want to go in fresh:
In an underwater city, a young girl takes care of a large egg she holds carefully in her arms – a treasure that she believes is an angel’s egg. A boy with a gun arrives in search of a bird he saw in his dream. At first it seems as if feelings of sympathy are developing between the two. Then, one night, the boy crushes her precious egg.
GKIDS and Oshii have previously teamed up to bring Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence to theaters, with a fresh 4K restoration.
Oshii is best known for his work on Ghost in the Shell. Angel’s Egg is one of his earliest films. After directing two adaptations of the manga Urusei Yatsura, Oshii teamed up with Amano to salvage ideas from a scrapped Lupin the Third movie. Amano would later go on to work on Vampire Hunter D and serve as character and logo designer for the Final Fantasy game franchise.
