Hey folks, Harry here.... YEAH!!!! Years ago someone somewhere sent me what I think is a Hong Kong or possibly pirate DVD of AKIRA, and I've been dying to get a REAL Dvd (same situation with all of PETER JACKSON's films... UNIVERSAL when are you going to put that great FRIGHTENERS laser disc out as a DVD?) of AKIRA.... filled with extras.... completely restored.... AWE-INSPIRING DIGITAL SOUND.... I WANT IT ALL!!!! And it looks like it is well on its way! And then.... With this AKIRA re-release into theaters... Finally I can take my McFarlane Toys to the theater and play while the movie plays (JUST KIDDING.... No... Really.... I won't do that....... Well, not too often) Here's Major Bludd with what went down at NATPE....

Hey there Harry, Major Bludd here...

Just got back from the NATPE (National Association of Television Programming Executives) show held in Vegas where the best of the best schmoozed and tried to buy and sell (and where I thought, for sure, where 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. would settle their "Buffy" problem - but no go).

Anyway, Pioneer Entertainment was on hand with a lengthy Japanamation catalogue including AKIRA. They're pushing 2001 as the "Year of Akira". Not only will the film be re-released but it will also get a DVD release (which they had on hand for my viewing pleasure - very nice indeed). The film transfer will be struck from a new Interpositive from the original negative, completely restored, re-mixed in Dolby Digital AC3 Surround (5.1), and a new English dub will be created from a new translation of the original Japanese script. The DVD has a comparison (much like the recent SE7EN DVD) between the new and old print - it's like night and day.

I was told to expect a DVD released come July/August with a theatrical released sometime this Spring.

Hope that's worth somethin' to ya.

- Major Bludd