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.