New York-based arthouse distributor Kino International has licensed North American distribution rights to the digitally restored 35mm presentation of Fritz Lang's 1927 silent masterpiece Metropolis from Munich-based Transit Films. The film will premiere in New York on July 12, followed by a national expansion.

Not to be confused with the 1984 restoration with a new score by Giorgio Moroder, this new version of Metropolis includes additionally intertitles, recovered shots and one short scene recovered from when it was dramatically cut after its 1927 release in Germany. It was assembled from positive prints, dupe negatives and camera originals from around the world, and all 1,257 scenes have been digitally restored. Gottfried Huppertz's score has also been re-recorded by a 60-piece orchestra and will be on the film's soundtrack for the first time since its original release.

The new version was made possible by the Murnau Foundation, Munich Film Archive and Deutches Kinemetque and premiered as a work in progress at the Berlin Film Festival this year with the final reel of footage still unrestored.

Kino's latest releases include The Piano Teacher starring Isabelle Huppert and Eric Valli's award-winning Himalaya, L'Enfance D'Un Chef, which grossed a breathtaking $2.5m.