Daft Punk’s Anime Dreamscape Interstella 5555 Is Coming Back to Theaters For One More Time

Daft Punk might be out of the music game, but one of their greatest albums, Discovery, is getting a celebratory return this December in the best way possible. 23 years after it debuted, electronica space opera mood piece Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem is making a return to theaters in its rarely-seen original form.

Announced today alongside a new Interstella 5555-themed re-release of Discovery, the new theatrical release of The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem will see a “remastered” (judging by the footage used below, it appears to have been updated via some kind of AI upscaling, rather than a true remastering) version of the original, uncut version of the 65 minute film head back to theaters for one night only on December 12.

Interstella 5555 (Remastered) in cinemas for one night only on December 12. Tickets on sale November 13.

Discovery: Interstella 5555 Edition available for pre-order now.

Discovery: Interstella 5555 Merchandise Collection available now. Full info at https://t.co/wdlZaWExaO pic.twitter.com/9xo3TVMR4v

— Daft Punk (@daftpunk) October 30, 2024

First released in 2001, Interstella 5555 was born of a collaboration between Daft Punk and the legendary anime director Leiji Matsumoto, the mind behind the likes of Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999, who supervised work on the film alongside director Kazuhisa Takenouchi. Set to various tracks from Discovery and entirely without dialogue, Interstella 5555 follows the titular alien pop band–the blue skinned Stella, Arpegius, Octave, and Baryl–as they’re kidnapped while performing across the stars and whisked to earth to be transformed into a human band, the Crescendolls, and their eventual escape back to the stars.

The film provided the visuals for many of the music videos released for Discovery, but it’s not very often you get to actually see Interstella 5555 as it was originally intended. As well as the complete film, screenings will also include a series of select Daft Punk videos, from directors including the likes of Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Seb Janiak, Roman Coppola, and Warren Fu. Tickets are set to go up for sale on November 13–hopefully by then we’ll actually know the nature of Interstella 5555‘s remastering, upscale or otherwise.

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