At 38, Akira is out-grossing Andrew Garfield's new epic in US cinemas — on a third of the screens
Crunchyroll and Sony’s 4K and IMAX run of Otomo’s 1988 classic has become Akira’s best North American release ever — on fewer than 800 screens.
If you care even a little about cyberpunk cinema, watching it finally get some proper recognition at the box office is—if you’ll pardon the phrase—quietly delightful. For decades, these films have offered up the blueprint for 'cool' in sci-fi, yet they almost always bomb first and get famous later. Blade Runner was a flop in 1982, became cult on home video, and only got its due after years of critical handwringing. The original Ghost in the Shell? Same deal. Even Blade Runner 2049—with all the money and prestige Hollywood could chuck at it—lost a packet in 2017.
Which makes what’s just happened with Akira genuinely worth noting. This is the sort of cinematic vindication that almost never comes for a film like this, and it’s taken over three decades to get here. Otomo’s Akira, arguably the film that stamped the entire cyberpunk aesthetic onto pop culture forever, is finally making actual cash at the US box office—something it just didn’t manage back in the day.
Akira's US re-release has now grossed over $4.2 million—a record for any North American outing of the film.
Why This Re-Release Actually Matters
This new run comes courtesy of Crunchyroll and Sony, with a 4K and IMAX presentation rolled out from September 4th. After two weekends, Akira has taken in approximately $4.29 million, peaking at just 787 locations. Most of that—about $3.2 million—came in over Labor Day, with a per-theatre average north of $4,000; that puts it right up with the wide releases, per screen. For a subtitled anime rerun from 1988, those are hefty numbers.
If you want historical context: when Streamline Pictures first brought Akira to American cinemas in 1989, its entire run pulled in $2.2 million. None of its previous re-issues even sniffed seven figures. By contrast, this is its best North American theatrical haul ever, and that's with fewer than 800 cinemas in play.
Beating Hollywood at Its Own Game
Something else slipped under the radar this weekend—a brand-new period drama from Oscar-nominated director Paul Greengrass, starring Andrew Garfield no less. The Uprising, which covers the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt, launched in over 2,000 theatres on September 11th. All that effort (and a $20 million budget) netted just $3.25 million, landing the film in eighth place. So, a rerun of a Japanese animated classic, playing in a third as many cinemas, has outperformed a prime-time English-language historical epic from the man who made Captain Phillips.
To put into perspective how unusual this is: Focus Features forked out $11 million for US distribution rights alone. Then, only weeks before release, they tried marketing it as a 'Robin Hood origin story'—presumably hoping a bit of legend would shift tickets. Didn't work. A24’s The Death of Robin Hood already proved this summer that the British outlaw isn’t much of a draw at the moment.
- Akira (subtitled, Japanese, 1988) – $4.29 million after two weekends, under 800 screens
- The Uprising (new, live-action, 2026) – $3.25 million opening, more than 2,000 screens
- Original Akira 1989 US gross – $2.2 million overall
Reviews haven’t helped The Uprising either: 54% on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics aren’t mad about the wobbly camera work or the tacked-on studio ending. Historical dramas in the $20 million range have struggled theatrically for years—all-star cast or not.
Akira had no such baggage. This is classic counter-programming: it pitched itself as an event for a built-in, hungry audience. It paid off.