Two decades have been kind to Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, the only animated feature to debut in competition at Cannes and recent recipient of a 20th-anniversary 4K restoration. But Mamoru Oshii isn’t done with his opus, having recently stated, “There is something I want to do for the third film. There is only one thing I have left to do. If I can do it, I would like to do it.” [Mantan Web]
The franchise’s significant cultural imprint across east and west alike implies a lay-up. (We can consider its predecessor’s unique Scarlett Johansson-led live-action remake a brief blip on the map.) Yet at last night’s Niigata International Animation Film Festival, Innocence‘s producer (and Production I.G. chairman) Mitsuhisa Ishikawa revealed that its production costs––2 billion yen, which amounts to more than $13 million USD––have still not been recouped over two decades. Nevertheless, intention remains:
“If we don’t recoup the production costs, there won’t be a third movie. I want to spread the word about this. I want to see it too. If you watch Innocence, you’ll get a hint (for the third movie). If we make a sequel to this movie, we can recoup all of that.”
That last line suggests some willingness to move forward with a third film as means of recouping on both productions, though translation issues perhaps present themselves. Whatever the case, a public cry might be the motivator––in an era of legacy sequels for which essentially nobody asked, is the conclusion to an anime and sci-fi benchmark such an odd proposal? I’ll let a slight idealism present itself.
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