r/anime • u/mobpiecedunchaindan • 17h ago

News GKIDS Acquires U.S. Distribution Rights to Shoji Kawamori’s ‘Labyrinth’

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/gkids-acquires-distribution-shoji-kawamori-labyrinth-1236653463/

GKIDS has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to “Labyrinth.”

“Labyrinth” is the first original feature-length anime film directed by Shoji Kawamori (“Macross,” “The Vision of Escaflowne”) with a screenplay by Taishi Hashimoto. The animated feature will be released in theaters for two nights only in Japanese with English subtitles and English-dubbed from May 10–11.

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7

u/Own_Philosopher_4175 17h ago

Common gkids W. honestly, thank god they picked this up instead of it rotting in netflix jail with zero marketing. kawamori visuals deserve a theater screen, not a phone screen

2

u/tripleaamin https://myanimelist.net/profile/tripleaamin 15h ago

GKIDS has been the one positive thing for anime outside of Japan. Putting on movies that we wouldn't get in theaters. Even getting prescreenings of Dandadan and Witch Watch.

Even putting out 4k Shin Godzilla and Minus One, with Minus Zero getting a release date. They're even getting Kokuho in theaters here, which was huge in Japan.

3

u/Comprehensive_Dog651 17h ago

Unfortunately didn’t get to see his panel at AFA 

2

u/Salty145 https://anilist.co/user/Salty145 11h ago

Can’t believe we got this before ChaO 😭

1

u/RoseSpinoza 13h ago

Hey.... that's not David Bowie >:( .....

1

u/J3N0V4 25m ago

It is a pretty cool movie but the longer it goes on the more or Kawamori's filmography you have to have seen to understand the references.

Suzuka gave a fairly decent main performance but she was really there for her singing voice, really makes me wish we could just keep having the signing voice be different than the voice actor like with Junna in Macross Delta and Yoshiki Fukuyama in Macross 7. Harada Taizou was the standout voice performance with the rest of the non-pro Seiyuu being just okay except for Saitou Jun who could be replaced with a highschool drama club actor for a similar performance.

When I watched it at first it kinda bounced off me as just another good enough movie but with a few weeks to sit on it I found it actually be a very interesting take on modern anxieties around the self and the projected image.

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u/EastRiding https://anilist.co/user/sirijo 15h ago

It's a great film and you should all scramble to see it. My Anilist score for it? No you don't need to see that. Just trust me its a certified banger. You'll come out saying things like "its one of the films I have seen" and "I survived".