Forget Dune: Here Is Your First Look at 2026’s Wildest Sci-Fi Film

Featuring an array of mutants, biomechanical terrors, primitive warriors, and breathtaking alien landscapes that rival the scale of Avatar—all culminating in a mind-bending, millennium-spanning time jump—René Laloux’s 1987 animated masterwork Gandahar possesses every hallmark of a definitive cult science-fiction classic. Its ascent to that status, however, has long been hampered by the difficulty of finding a high-fidelity version of this surreal, psychedelic odyssey.

Fortunately, that narrative is shifting this summer. Janus Films is set to revive the original, uncut version of Gandahar for a limited theatrical run in the U.S., featuring a stunning, ground-up 4K restoration. We are thrilled to debut the first trailer for this pristine re-release. If you thought the shape-shifting assassins and surreal imagery of Dune: Part 3 were enough to leave your head spinning in the multiplex this year, you’ll want to secure your Gandahar tickets immediately. Here is the official premise:

In a far-flung corner of the universe, a ruthless army of automata descends upon the tranquil world of Gandahar, petrifying its peace-loving inhabitants. Determined to uncover the origins of these “Men of Metal,” a council of matriarchs deploys Sylvain (Pierre-Marie Escourro), a brave yet green warrior. While patrolling the untamed outer reaches of the planet, he joins forces with the Deformed—a society of mutants ostracized for their failed scientific origins. Sylvain soon discovers that the turmoil threatening his utopian world is being orchestrated by a titanic sentient entity known as Metamorphis (Georges Wilson). Alongside the ethereal Airelle (Catherine Chevallier), he embarks on a desperate, time-traveling mission to dismantle this threat and safeguard the very existence of his civilization.

Laloux remains best known for his 1973 visionary piece Fantastic Planet, a staple of experimental cinema that received a definitive Criterion restoration nearly a decade ago. The director’s journey to becoming a pillar of French science fiction was unconventional: he began as a woodcarver and refined his craft by producing short films in collaboration with psychiatric patients while working as a clinician. While Fantastic Planet was his breakout triumph, Gandahar, based on the novel by Jean-Pierre Andrevon, served as his final feature-length project.

As Cinefantastique reported in 1988, Gandahar failed to garner significant attention upon release, and its U.S. distribution—overseen by a curious pairing of Isaac Asimov and Harvey Weinstein—fared little better. Denied the consistent critical appreciation afforded to Fantastic Planet, Gandahar lingered in obscurity on home video platforms. While one could technically stream an English-dubbed, 4:3-ratio version on Prime Video today, doing so is hardly the optimal viewing experience.

Having navigated those grainy, legacy versions myself, I strongly recommend waiting for this 4K iteration; the work Janus has performed on this film truly renders previous VHS-sourced versions obsolete. With Laloux, the hypnotic, detailed visuals account for 90% of the allure—the remaining 10% comes from watching bizarre, chest-faced extraterrestrials engage in complex space-political discourse. Fun fact: Laloux depicted a multi-breasted woman long before Total Recall popularized the aesthetic. The man possessed an singular, uninhibited imagination.

Gandahar arrives in New York City theaters on Aug. 28, with a broader national rollout to follow.

Source: Polygon