Box Office Mojo reports that the Psycho-Pass Providence film has earned $287,843 in domestic earnings in the United States. The film had a limited release in North America starting on July 14, and on its opening day, it grossed US$210,219 in the United States.
Celebrating the franchise’s 10th anniversary, the film is being screened with both Japanese audio and English dub versions. Before its North American release, Sony Pictures and Crunchyroll organized sneak peek screenings on July 11 and 13.
In Japan, the film premiered on May 12, offering 4DX and MX4D screenings alongside regular showings, and it ranked #4 in its opening weekend. So, to say it was successful is clearly an understatement.
On July 15, Sony Pictures and Crunchyroll teamed up to stream an English-dubbed clip of the film, titled “Conflict.” The clip was released a day before the limited North American film release, and it gives us a glimpse of an exciting action scene featuring Akane and Kagami facing off against an unknown enemy.
This isn’t just any sci-fi drama, it’s a fascinating and almost frightening peek into a future that may come faster than we expect. “In the world of Psycho-Pass, your thoughts can be your destruction.”
Psycho-Pass: Providence’s Plot
The film takes us to January 2118, where Chief Inspector Akane Tsunemori of the Criminal Investigation Department receives an emergency call reporting a mysterious incident; the dead body of Professor Milicia Stronskaya has been found on an unknown vessel.
This event leads Akane to a notorious and evil group known as the Peacebreakers, a foreign paramilitary organization. This group desperately wants to get their hands on the secret “Stronskaya Document,” a bunch of research papers written by Professor Milicia that could break the foundations of Japan’s government and the all-powerful Sibyl System.
What will Akane and Shinya Kogami do? Will this dynamic duo find the missing link? Or is this the beginning of their destruction?
“The Pyscho-Pass anime series is like Minority Report on steroids,” said a reviewer. The film has undertones of cyberpunk aesthetics with a dark colour palette, which surprisingly gives a very pleasant vibe to the atmosphere of the movie.
The Psycho-Pass Anime Series
The anime series produced by Production I.G. aired in Japan on Fuji TV’s Noitamina programming block from 2012 to 2013. Toho released the series on DVD and Blu-ray formats, starting in 2012, with the final volume released on July 26, 2013.
Funimation obtained the North American license for the series and simulcasted it on their website in Japanese, followed by weekly English releases. In July 2013, Production I.G. president Mitsuhisa Ishikawa announced the production of a second season at the Anime Expo.
Psycho-Pass 2 aired in October 2014, with a film released in January 2015. In 2019, a third season was announced and aired on Fuji TV’s Noitamina block between October 24 and December 12, 2019. Amazon streamed the series on their Amazon Prime Video service both within and outside Japan.
The anime series does a fantastic job of combining elements of crime thriller, cyberpunk, and psychological drama to create an engrossing and compelling narrative. The well-developed characters, led by the enigmatic Inspector Akane Tsunemori, undergo great character arcs as they confront the moral dilemmas created by the Sibyl System and its impact on their lives.
Honestly, the word “great” doesn’t do the character development justice. It’s really out of this world. While Psycho-Pass excels in many aspects, some may find its graphic content and mature themes unsettling. That being said, Psycho-Pass is a must-watch.
