A brand-new Space Battleship Yamato anime film is officially in the works, and it pairs two of the most influential names the franchise has ever had. A website opened on Tuesday to announce Cosmoship Yamato √2199, a feature-length anime film co-directed by Hideaki Anno and Yutaka Izubuchi at Production I.G and Studio Khara.
The Japanese title keeps the series’ “Uchū Senkan” prefix, the same wording that has previously been translated into English as “Space Battleship” or “Space Cruiser.” The √ symbol in the title is pronounced “Root.” No premiere date has been announced yet.
Who is making Cosmoship Yamato √2199
Anno and Izubuchi both direct the film and share design works credit. Anno is additionally credited for planning the project alongside Production I.G founder Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, and he serves as production executive producer. The project is presented by “Shin Office Academy.”
The pairing is a notable one. Izubuchi directed the 2012–2013 Space Battleship Yamato 2199 remake, the series that relaunched the saga for a modern audience, while Anno has spent decades citing Yamato as the title that pulled him into anime in the first place.
What Hideaki Anno said
The film’s website quotes Anno, who describes himself as a huge Yamato fan since the second year of junior high school: “I want to keep making Yamato not only to fulfill a childhood dream, but also to imbue our prayers and wishes for the next generation and our own. It is with that resolve that we produce this.”
Anno is best known for co-creating Neon Genesis Evangelion and for directing the live-action Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman and Shin Kamen Rider films. He previously planned the opening sequence for the Space Battleship Yamato 2199 series, and in a comment for the franchise’s 50th anniversary project he said he had been a fan for 49 years, since middle school. He recalled missing the first episode of the original broadcast but watching every episode from the second onward — running home after cram school to do it, even at the cost of missing Great Mazinger.
Anno joined Production I.G’s board of directors on August 21, 2025, which makes his involvement at the studio a natural fit rather than a one-off guest appearance.
How the film connects to the wider Yamato saga
According to MyAnimeList’s report on the same announcement, Anno has said Cosmoship Yamato √2199 is being developed separately from the ongoing remakes and will take a different path from them. The original story follows the World War II battleship Yamato after it is resurrected as a space-faring vessel to defend Earth from alien threats.
The original television anime premiered in October 1974. The first animated film followed in 1977 and earned 2.1 billion yen (about US$23 million) at the box office, and the franchise later recorded an instantaneous television rating of 50% in 1978 — a number that still stands as a landmark in Japanese broadcast history.
The most recent entry in the remake line, Yamato yo Towa ni: Rebel 3199, is being rolled out as seven films, beginning with “Kuro no Shinryaku” (Dark Invasion) in July 2024. The final film in that project is set to open in Japan on October 30. That means Cosmoship Yamato √2199 arrives as the franchise is closing one long chapter and preparing to open another.
Why it matters
Yamato is one of the foundational works of Japanese science fiction animation, and putting Anno and Izubuchi on a single feature gives it a creative team that understands both its original spirit and its modern revival. Anno’s attachment is especially meaningful: he has spoken about the series as a formative influence for decades, and this is the first time he takes the director’s chair for a Yamato film rather than contributing to one from the side.
The “√2199” styling also suggests the film sits in conversation with the 2199 remake timeline rather than being a clean reboot, even as Anno frames it as its own separate path. For long-time fans and newcomers alike, it gives the franchise a fresh theatrical event to look forward to after the Rebel 3199 cycle wraps.
An exact release date, cast, and further staff have yet to be confirmed, so expect more details to follow.
For more on the people behind the franchise, see our report on how Space Battleship Yamato film director Toshio Masuda shaped the series’ early theatrical outings.
Source: Anime News Network
Featured image: Teaser visual for the Cosmoship Yamato √2199 anime film, via Anime News Network.
