Warner Home Video has acquired the right to distribute DVDs of the anime feature film Appleseed: Ex Machina to all territories outside of Japan.  The second CGI Appleseed film, which like the first is based on the manga by Masamune Shirow, is slated for a 2008 release.  Warner Home Video is planning on releasing the film in both high definition and standard definition formats, and will also release a 2-disc collector's set with lots of bonus features at the same time as the other DVD versions are made available.

Shinji Aramaki, who directed the 2004 Appleseed feature, returns to helm Appleseed: Ex Machina (which is being produced by legendary action director John Woo).  Appleseed: Ex Machina is slated to debut in Japan this October (see 'Second Appleseed Film Due in '07').

During its first three weeks of release here in the U.S. during the spring of 2005 the first Appleseed CGI feature, which was distributed by Geneon, sold over 85,000 copies, and it continued to do well throughout the remainder of the year selling an estimated 420,000 copies in North America and ending up as the #5 anime release of 2005 according to ICv2's Retailers Guide to Anime/Manga #13.