EXCLUSIVE: After a debut screening at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the Toho Company’s 4K restoration of Akira Kurosawa‘s seminal epic Seven Samurai is hitting the U.S. for a theatrical release through Janus Films.
Janus will open the restoration on Friday, July 5 in New York at Film Forum after which a Los Angeles premiere will take place at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre on Sunday, July 7. The film will open wide on Friday, July 12 in Los Angeles at Laemmle Royal.
Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential films in cinema history, Seven Samurai tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. The official restoration synopsis reads: This three-hour ride from Akira Kurosawa seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions, and relentless action, into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope.
The film starred legendary Japanese actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura and marked Kurosawa’s third widely adored film of the early 1950s following Rashomon and Ikiru. The original film debuted at the 1954 Venice Film Festival where Kurosawa won the Silver Lion for best director.
The restoration screened in the Cannes Classics sidebar at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The French festival also honored Kurosawa this year by using a scene from his late career feature Rhapsody in August as the backdrop for the 2024 Cannes poster.
Check out the first trailer for the 4K Seven Samurai restoration above and the official poster below.