GKIDS announced today it has acquired all rights for North America to Mamoru Oshii’s critically acclaimed animated fantasy feature, Angel’s Egg. Four decades after the film’s original release, the film will be presented in an all-new 4K restoration personally supervised by director Oshii, in cinemas nationwide for the first time next year.
“Angel’s Egg has long been a cult classic, an object of fascination among dedicated animation fans,” said GKIDS President David Jesteadt. “After almost 40 years, this masterpiece retains all of its beauty and power, and we are thrilled to do our part in bringing the film to a new generation of audiences in the way it deserves to be seen.”
Synopsis: 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.
First released directly to home video in 1985, the film is a creative collaboration between Oshii (Ghost in the Shell), who wrote and directed the feature, and artist Yoshitaka Amano (Final Fantasy, Vampire Hunter D) — blending Oshii’s thematic reflections on philosophy and theology with Amano’s distinctive ink painting style.
The deal was negotiated in Cannes between Rodney Uhler of GKIDS and Jason Bressand of Gebeka International (a Hildegarde – Goodfellas Company). The film marks the next collaboration between GKIDS and Oshii, following the upcoming release of the new 4K restoration of his Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, which arrives in U.S. cinemas next month.
Watch the pre-restoration trailer below:
