Watch The 'Iron Giant: Signature Edition' Trailer

Brad Bird's first feature The Iron Giant didn't make a big splash upon its release in 1999. Warner Bros. didn't seem to know how to market the film, and with the internet publicity machine only in its first formative stage, some of the tools that can help raise awareness of a film in 2015 were not yet in place.The Iron Giant resonated with nearly everyone who did see the film, at least, and over the years it has been celebrated as a new classic in hand-drawn animation and science fiction. The good news is that Warner Bros. is planning a brief new theatrical release for a version of the film called The Iron Giant: Signature Edition, with a bit of new footage. There's a new Iron Giant trailer to advertise the September release, which you can watch below.

That's a pretty good trailer (via Yahoo! Movies), and it likely has the benefit of being cut by someone who is a fan of the film. Compare that to the original theatrical trailer, which sold the film on more of a beat by beat basis, setting it up as a no-account quickie for kids:

The Iron Giant: Signature Edition is a celebration of both the film's 16th anniversary, and of its lasting appeal. The remastered special re-release will include two new scenes originally cut from the theatrical release.

The film will play in theaters across the country on Wednesday, September 30 at 7 PM, with an encore presentation on Sunday, October 4 at 12 PM. (It is also playing at the Toronto International Film Festival.) Ticket info is online at www.FathomEvents.com. The event will be presented in select movie theaters around the country through Fathom's Digital Broadcast Network. We'd love to see a more extensive release of the movie, but this is better than nothing.

And given that the film is not yet available on Blu-ray in the us, some will be happy to know that a digital HD release follows later on this fall.

(An assertion from Yahoo that a Blu-ray is coming as well seems to be Yahoo's misreading of the available information. Warner Bros. clarified to us that the Iron Giant: Signature Edition is only coming from digital retailers.)

The Iron Giant features a voice cast including Eli Marienthal, Christopher McDonald, Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick, Jr. and Vin Diesel.

A young boy rescues a huge robot which has rocketed to earth from space – and tries to protect the genial giant from a nosey government agent and the military.