Taika Waititi’s live-action Akira movie has received a disappointing update courtesy of a new report from THR.
What is the latest on the live-action Akira movie?
According to a new report from THR, the Akira live-action movie at Warner Bros. Discovery is officially not happening. The movie studio has reportedly let go of the movie rights, reverting them back to Kodansha, the manga publisher that originally released Katsuhiro Otomo’s story in 1982.
THR’s report mentions that producers and other talent have already begun “lining up” to try and attach themselves to the property for future pitches. As for Waititi’s long-in-development movie, this means the project is likely fully over with.
Akira’s movie development has been a long and extremely complicated one. Warner Bros. picked up the rights to the incredibly popular manga in 2002, and originally had Stephen Norrington (Blade) attached as a director. That began two decades of what THR describes as development hell, with writers and directors like Garry Whitta, Mark Fergus, Hawk Otsby, Steve Kloves, and more all attached at one point or another.
In 2017, Waititi was announced to be writing and directing a movie based on the manga. This project even received a 2021 release date and was in the process of casting, according to THR. However, Waititi became too busy with other projects, and never recommitted to the project.
Originally released in 1982, Akira tells the story of a post-apocalyptic and futuristic “Neo-Tokyo,” and centers on Shotaro Kaneda, a gang leader, the militant revolutionary Kei, and more. The manga received an animated film in 1988, which is often heralded as one of the greatest films ever made and something that helped make anime as a whole a pop culture staple, although it does deviate heavily from the source material.
(Source: The Hollywood Reporter)
