Ghost in the Shell 2.0

Ghost in the Shell 2.0 is a rebuilt edition of the 1995 film, commissioned as a companion to the 2008 launch of the anime feature The Sky Crawlers. For this version every original sequence was reproduced using contemporary digital and CGI animation methods, and the accompanying soundtrack was reorganized and rerecorded from scratch.

Rather than telling a fresh story, the film re-presents the narrative of its 1995 predecessor, tracing the cyborg Major and Section 9 through the case centered on the hacker known as the Puppet Master. The reworking touched more than the visuals: Japanese dialogue was recorded anew, revised in places to fold in more current everyday speech. The Puppet Master itself was recast, with the role's earlier male performer, Iemasa Kayumi, giving way to actress Yoshiko Sakakibara.

Kenji Kawai, who had scored the original, remixed the music in 6.1 channel surround, while Academy Award winner Randy Thom of Skywalker Sound handled sound design after his earlier work on Innocence and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. The North American rollout was originally slated for Warner Bros. Home Entertainment but ultimately came through Manga Entertainment. Three editions reached shelves: a single-disc Blu-ray, a single-disc DVD, and a three-disc First Limited Edition, also branded the Absolute Edition, packaging both versions of the film alongside a soundtrack CD and a commentary booklet. Some copies slipped onto Best Buy shelves ahead of the November 24, 2009 street date, and the original English dub was carried over atop the new sound effects.