Like Death & Rebirth, the creators conceived The End of Evangelion as a duology comprising "Episode 25: Love Is Destructive" and "Episode 26: I Need You", remakes of the last two episodes of the original television series. In 1998, the overlapping films were edited together and reissued as Revival of Evangelion. The End of Evangelion was a box-office success, grossing ¥2.47 billion. It was honoured at the Awards of the Japanese Academy, the Animation Kobe, and the 1997 Animage Anime Grand Prix, and was praised for its violence, direction, editing, emotional power, and script, though some reviewers criticized its oblique religious symbolism and abstraction. Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion was released in Japanese theaters on July 19, 1997. Pre-sales began on May 17; customers with unused tickets for Death and Rebirth were permitted to use them for the movie. Viewers were given copies of the film's official poster. A preview was held on July 17 at Yomiuri Hall Cinema. In 1998, the feature films Death & Rebirth (1997) and The End of Evangelion (1997), partially overlapping, were merged by removing the part in common and re-released as Revival of Evangelion, which was released in theaters on March 7, attracting 300,000 people. In 2006, The End of Evangelion was screened as part of the Tokyo International Film Festival in Akihabara. In 2014, the Revival of Evangelion version was screened at Toho Cinemas in Nihonbashi during the 27th edition of the same festival. On August 28 and 29, 2015, to celebrate the release of the Blu-ray box set of the series, the film was played along with the first episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion ("Angel Attack") at Toho Cinema in Shinjuku, Tokyo. On December 4, 2020, it was announced a new run for Revival of Evangelion in special screenings across Japan between January 8 and 22, 2021. In 1997, Neon Genesis Evangelion in Japan was at the center of national debates and became a social phenomenon. It thus attracted to theaters a large number of people who were intrigued by the controversy surrounding the original ending. The film version also drew the attention of newspapers, as well as people who were not normally interested in animation. The End of Evangelion's audience exceeded that of Death and Rebirth, drawing 400,000 viewers in the first three days of its release. The movie earned about one-and-a-half billion yen in Japanese distributor rentals, equivalent