Set for a limited theatrical release this Friday, the Japanese film Metropolis, (not to be confused with the Fritz Lang film of the same name), has already been greenlit for a two-disc special edition DVD later this year.

Set in the future, “Metropolis” is a grand city-state populated by humans and robots, the cohabitants of a strictly segmented society. Amidst the chaos created by anti- robot factions, detective Shunsaku Ban and his sidekick Ken-ichi are searching for rebel scientist Dr. Laughton. But when they locate him, his secret laboratory is destroyed by fire under sinister circumstances, and instead Ken-ichi finds Tima, a beautiful young girl bereft of memory and speech, seemingly helpless at the site. Little does he know that Tima is a new top-of the-line android created to take over Metropolis, and that behind her creation lie the ambitions of a powerful man and his fierce desire to reclaim a tragic figure from his past.

Coming in anamorphic widescreen and fullscreen, the film will come with four audio tracks; Japanese DTS 5.1, Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1 and French Surround. Subtitles will be optionally available in English, French and Spanish. The set will include the film on one disc and the supplements on a pocket sized DVD. The smaller disc will contain an Animax special, a featurette entitled The Making of Osamu Tezuka’s Metropolis, an interview with Rintaro Katsushiro, two Animation Comparisons, a history of the “Metropolis”, a comic book, theatrical trailers and a biography of director Osamu Tezuka.

The special edition will come to stores in the U.S. on March 12th, less than two months after its theatrical release, so fans won?t have to wait too long. The suggested retail price is $27.96.