Crunchyroll Announces North American Theatrical Date for ‘Psycho-Pass: Providence’!

The Psycho-Pass 10th Anniversary Project was held on August 13, 2022, in Japan and while we certainly did expect some news, the producers once again made the fandom happy by announcing that a new Psycho-Pass anime movie, titled PSYCHO-PASS PROVIDENCE, was in the works at Production I.G, with series veteran Naoyoshi Shiotani returning to direct once again. The movie premiered in Japan on May 12, 2023, and Crunchyroll has recently announced that the North American theatrical premiere of PSYCHO-PASS PROVIDENCE is going to take place on July 14, 2023, and we are going to bring you all the information you need to know about the premiere.

PSYCHO-PASS PROVIDENCE was officially confirmed in August 2022 as the next installment in the Psycho-Pass franchise, with Naoyoshi Shiotani returning to direct the movie and the original cast also set to return. The movie premiered on May 12, 2023, in Japan, and Crunchyroll confirmed that the North American theatrical premiere will take place on July 14, 2023. A streaming release date has not yet been announced.

The rest of this article will bring you all the known and unknown information related to the upcoming North American premiere of the PSYCHO-PASS PROVIDENCE movie, the next installment in this great cyberpunk series. You’ll find out about its release date, whether there is a trailer, what the story could be about, and much more about this great anime movie.

PSYCHO-PASS PROVIDENCE North American release date

Last year, after two years of waiting, the team behind the brilliant cyberpunk anime project Psycho-Pass finally provided us with an update on a new project. Now, fans of the series know that with the First Inspector ending on a cliffhanger, a future project was almost certain, but with the COVID-19 pandemic and absolutely no news during that period, fans had started to worry.

In that movie, Akane promised to tell Shindo and Ignatov what had happened two years prior, and we hoped (or knew, it’s a matter of perspective) that the producers wouldn’t leave us without the story of how Akane ended up in a detention facility from which she was ultimately released.

A special 10th-anniversary event was held in Japan in August 2022, and during said event, it was announced that the Psycho-Pass anime project would be getting its next installment in the form of an anime movie titled Psycho-Pass PROVIDENCE. A poster was also revealed:

The event revealed that the movie was, at the time, in the works and that Production I.G was working on it with director Naoyoshi Shiotani, who was confirmed to be returning once more to the beloved franchise.

Initially, we did not know too much information, but a teaser video was released during the event, scheduling the beginning of the Anniversary Project for October 2022. Here is the teaser:

As for the potential plot, the initial announcement did not reveal too much, but based on the ending of the First Inspector and the poster, we had a rough idea of what the movie would be about. Namely, in the post-credits scene of Psycho-Pass 3: First Inspector, Akane, having been released, says to Shindo and Ignatov that she will finally reveal the reasons behind her incarceration, i.e., what happened “two years ago.”

It is quite significant that Akane said that to Shindo since Shindo’s father was a former inspector who committed suicide – two years ago! Based on the poster, which shows Shindo’s father (upper left) and the old characters in focus – Shindo and Ignatov are significantly missing from the poster – we suspect that the movie will focus on the events that happened two years prior and will explain both the reasons of Atsushi Shindo’s suicide and Akane ending up in a facility, as well as reveal more details about the Bifrost.

Later, it was confirmed that the movie would premiere on May 12, 2023, in Japan, and the premiere took part as scheduled, with the movie receiving good reviews. Now, we know that the premiere took place recently. Still, the good folks at Crunchyroll have made us quite happy and have officially confirmed that the movie will be getting a North American theatrical release and that it will be happening quite soon. Here is what they said:

Culver City, California (May 17, 2023) – Crunchyroll, one of the leading and ultimate anime destinations worldwide, in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment, is bringing PSYCHO-PASS: Providence to theaters globally beginning in July 2023. The popular sci-fi dystopian thriller arrives in theaters on July 14 in North America with special advanced fan sneak peek showings on July 11 and 13; with additional theatrical release dates in Summer 2023 for Australia, United Kingdom/Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Spain, Mexico, Chile, Peru, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand to be announced soon. In North America, the film will be available in both Japanese with English subtitles as well as dubbed in English. 

PSYCHO-PASS: Providence is the highly anticipated next film in the popular sci-fi action thriller PSYCHO-PASS franchise,  currently available to stream on Crunchyroll. The first series of the anime debuted in 2012 to a critically acclaimed first season. The film continues the story of the young inspector Akane Tsunemori and her partner Shinya Kogami, who take a strong stance against The Sibyl System, an authoritarian system that rules over a futuristic Japan. 

Crunchyroll press release

And there it is – PSYCHO-PASS PROVIDENCE is coming to North American theaters on July 14, 2023, less than two months from now. Selected fans can get a preview on July 11 and July 13, with the wide release starting on July 14. The movie is, of course, going to be released globally as well, but the release dates for South America, Europe, and Asia will be revealed later, so be sure to check back here to get all the latest news. Now, allow us to tell you what else we know about the movie.

PSYCHO-PASS PROVIDENCE plot

Now, we know that the PSYCHO-PASS PROVIDENCE movie has premiered in Japan, which means that the plot of this new installment is known. But, since the North American premiere is not too far away, we will just give you the official synopsis provided by Crunchyroll so that we don’t spoil it for you. And here it is:

January 2118. Chief Inspector of the Criminal Investigation Department, Akane Tsunemori, receives a report of an incident on a foreign vessel – the body of Professor Milicia Stronskaya has been discovered. Behind the incident is a group known as the Peacebreakers, a foreign paramilitary organization and a new outside threat who are targeting the professor’s research papers known as the “Stronskaya Document”. 

Reunited with Shinya Kogami, a former fugitive from the Criminal Investigation Department, Akane grapples with a case that quickly escalates beyond their expectations. The Stronskaya Papers could reveal a truth that would shake Japan’s government, and even the Sibyl System, to the core.

It is in this untold story that the missing link is revealed.

Crunchyroll

PSYCHO-PASS PROVIDENCE voice cast and characters

PSYCHO-PASS is a franchise whose main cast hasn’t undergone many changes throughout the series. Some new characters have been introduced, and many antagonists have died, as well as some supporting protagonists, but the main cast has remained – for the most part – unchanged, and this will probably stay that way until the end of the series. This is why we think that the main voice cast for the English dub since that is an unwritten rule in modern-day anime adaptations, will return for this movie and all future installments.

We don’t have confirmation of that, so we’ll have to wait a bit for it to be official, but we assume that most of the names in our table will return in the dub, and here is what it should look like (the Japanese voice actors have, of course, been confirmed and verified):