Mamoru Oshii’s highly influential 1995 anime film Ghost in the Shell inspired not only future anime, but Hollywood directors as well, who still cite the film as one of the greatest of all time. But one aspect of the film’s production has been in question since its release, including on its own Japanese VHS cover: how much it cost to make. Fortunately, a producer on the film took to Twitter to confirm the budget for the seminal film.
During a Twitter discussion about the Ghost in the Shell budget between Japanese university professor Renato Rivera Rusca and translator ehoba, producer of the original film, producer Shigeru Watanabe jumped in to confirm that the anime film had a budget of 330 million. yen (about $ 3 million) in 1995.
フィルム迄の原価は3億3000万でパトレイバー2よりかかっています。
— SiegelWood.44 (@Watari116) September 18, 2021
This is in direct contrast to the Japanese VHS box art for Ghost in the Shell, which claimed a budget of 600 million yen, although this number probably refers to production, advertising, and other associated costs to make the film appear to cost more. . do what it actually did, this was right after the bubble economy burst.
おお！ありがとうございます！ (押井さんのインタビューの内容は一体…)
— ehoba (@htGOIW) September 18, 2021
Watanabe also confirmed that the production budget for Patlabor 2: The Movie (excluding advertising and such) was 220 million yen, less than Ghost in the Shell. The confirmation was due to Oshii being quoted in an interview in 2020 as saying that Ghost in the Shell was cheaper to produce than Patlabor 2: The Movie, which was evidently not the case. Watanabe says he has kept records of that time to review if necessary.
Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045 
Ghost in the Shell Live-Action
Ghost in the Shell is a Japanese cyberpunk media franchise based on the seinen manga series of the same name written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. The manga, first published in 1989 under the subtitle The Ghost in the Shell, and later published in its own tankōbon volumes by Kodansha, told the story of the fictitious cyberterrorism organization Public Security Section 9, led by protagonist Major. Motoko Kusanagi. , and is set in Japan in the mid-21st century.
Animation studio Production I.G has produced several anime adaptations of the series. These include the 1995 film of the same name and its sequel, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence; the 2002 television series, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and its 2020 follow-up, Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045; and the original video animation series Ghost in the Shell: Arise (OVA). In addition, a live action film produced in the United States was released on March 31, 2017.
Source – Shigeru Watanabe on Twitter via Renato Rivera Rusca
