On Dec. 2, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (or the Oscars, as most of us know them) held a special screening of the animated Japanese classic ¡°Akira¡± in Los Angeles.
Since its release in 1988, the dystopian, cyberpunk epic has never really left the public consciousness, but it has been in the zeitgeist even more than usual recently: It celebrated its 30th anniversary last year, takes place in 2019 and is set for both a Hollywood remake and a recently announced new anime series. And, as the academy notes, the film ¡°represents a cultural and technological landmark that continues to inspire modern animators.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure you can get to ¡®Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse¡¯ or ¡®The Matrix¡¯ without ¡®Akira,¡¯¡± says Anne Coco, head of Graphic Arts Collections at the Margaret Herrick Library, the academy¡¯s publicly accessible film archive.
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