Akira 4K and IMAX rerelease announced for 2026

1 hour ago 2

Published Jul 2, 2026, 4:07 PM EDT

Relive Katsuhiro Otomo's landmark anime on the big(gest) screen

A drawn image from Akira (the manga) of a young man (Kaneda) standing in front of a large futuristic motorcycle. He’s wearing a motorcycle jacket with a pill on the back.

If you missed the 4K remaster of Akira in theaters when it debuted in 2020, you have a second shot this summer. Crunchyroll announced Thursday that Katsuhiro Otomo's landmark anime movie will return to theaters — for one day only — in 4K and IMAX format in September.

Akira will be re-released in 4K and IMAX in the United States and Canada on Sept. 4, distributed by Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment. The showings of Otomo's cyberpunk classic will feature the original Japanese dialogue with English subtitles, and will also be shown with its English dub.

Originally released in 1988, Akira told the story of Tokyo in the distant future of 2019, 31 years after the destruction of the metropolis. The animated epic, based on Otomo's manga of the same name, focuses on Kaneda, the leader of a biker gang whose childhood friend, Tetsuo Shima, acquires powerful telekinetic abilities after a near-fatal accident.

If you've never seen Akira, here's how Crunchyroll describes the film:

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…

Ticket sales for the September rerelease of Akira have not been announced. Stay tuned.

Now, about that Akira TV series... (Where the heck is it?)