We all know that box office receipts are not a good way to determine if a movie is good or bad. The problem is that if a movie does badly at the box office, the studio making the film’s Blu-rays and DVDs will skimp on the extras. Which, sadly, is the case with Ghost In The Shell (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack, 3D Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack, 4K Ultra HD, DVD), the cyberpunk action flick that has its fans — myself included — but not enough box office clout to warrant the extras-packed discs its fans want.
By mixing elements of role-playing games, first-person shooters, and stealth action games within the framework of a cyberpunk story, 2011’s Deus Ex Human Revolution was basically the Ghost In The Shell game that fans of that anime had been waiting for since the movie’s 1995 debut, myself included. And though we’re still waiting for the Ghost people to get it right, we can at least enjoy the next best thing with Deus Ex Mankind Divided (Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC).
Whenever you buy a movie on Blu-ray, the most important thing is, of course, the movie itself. The extras are just that: extra. But let’s be honest, we’ve all bought new editions of movie Blu-rays just because it has more extras than are on the version we already own. Which brings me to the Ghost In The Shell 25th Anniversary Edition, which Anchor Bay have released on Blu-ray. While the movie looks better, it has absolutely no extras, not even ones that were on previous Blu-ray editions.
What’s a fan to do?
Anchor Bay have announced that they will release a Ghost In The Shell 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray on September 30th.