Akira is coming back to UK cinemas in 4K IMAX this April

Katsuhiro Otomo's 1988 anime film Akira is returning to UK and Ireland cinemas on Friday, April 17, 2026, for a run of exclusive 4K IMAX screenings. UK distributor Anime Limited confirmed the theatrical run, which includes both 2D IMAX presentations and standard screens. Audiences will have the option to watch the film in the original Japanese with English subtitles or the English dub.

I still pronounce the main character's name wrong because of that original English dub. If you grew up renting the VHS from Blockbuster over and over, you probably say "kuh-NAY-duh" too. But whether you know the correct Japanese pronunciation or not, seeing Neo-Tokyo on a massive IMAX screen is a genuinely exciting prospect for anyone who loves animation, cyberpunk, or cinema history.

160,000 cels and an $10(ish) million budget

The production of Akira was completely unprecedented for its time. Otomo adapted his own manga, which ran from 1982 to 1990 in Kodansha's Weekly Young Magazine. The film only covers roughly the first half of the six-volume, 2,000-page story. The universe Otomo built goes so much deeper in print. The manga explores the aftermath of Neo-Tokyo's destruction in grueling detail. It introduces entire factions and character arcs that never made it to the screen. I own all six volumes, and reading them completely changes how you view the theatrical cut. But the 1988 film adaptation changed the animation industry anyway.

It had about a $10-$11 million budget, which was unheard of for anime in the late eighties. The animation team used 2,212 individual shots and 160,000 hand-painted cels to bring the dystopian city to life. The lighting effects alone required a massive amount of manual labor. Animators created the glowing neon signs and motorcycle light trails entirely by hand. They also used a technique that was highly unusual for Japanese animation at the time. Instead of animating the scenes first and dubbing the voices later, the team pre-recorded the dialogue and lip-synced the animation to match the actors' mouth movements. This gave the characters a level of realism that audiences had never seen before in the medium.

The blueprint for modern cyberpunk

You can draw a straight line from Akira to decades of Western pop culture. It essentially opened the door for anime in the West. The film introduced an entire generation to the idea that animation could be violent, complex, and strictly for adults.

Its visual DNA is everywhere. The Wachowskis drew heavily from its aesthetic for The Matrix. The Duffer Brothers cited it as a major influence on Stranger Things. The 2012 found-footage film Chronicle is essentially a live-action adaptation of Tetsuo's character arc. Even Kanye West's music video for "Stronger" is a direct, shot-for-shot homage to the film's hospital escape sequence. The famous shot of Kaneda sliding his red motorcycle sideways has been replicated by dozens of other shows and movies.

Where to stream it right now

If you cannot make it to a UK cinema this April, the film is very easy to find at home. You can stream it right now on platforms like Crunchyroll and Hulu. It is also available to rent or buy digitally on Amazon Prime Video and Vudu. Physical media collectors can also track down numerous Blu-ray and 4K UHD editions released over the years.