"NOT AGAIN!"
We’ve been writing about an Akira movie on this site literally since like 1998. Hell, even Renn got in the mix earlier this year with a piece that alluded to the potential film we’re apparently going to actually see in a couple of years. Blows my mind it’s taken this long, as Akira is The Big One. More than Cowboy BeBop, more than Ghost in the Shell, and even more than the romantic UROTSUKIDOJII. It’s the one manga/anime that’ll either open the floodgates or slam them shut like an account’s butthole on the first day of his prison sentence.
Shut up. I know it’s not that black and white. And I know that the ideas and styles inherent to this now tame work have been in theaters dozens of times in the lens of filmmakers paying homage or flat-out stealing. But Akira is a milestone. And it’s been one of the most cockteasing movie properties of forever.
But Variety has broken the news that Warners is going forward with a live-action Akira movie. Directed by the excellent and “sky is the limit” talent that is Jaume Collet-Serra no less. He’s a guy I’ve championed on a bunch of projects and one whose time is now, the awful Unknown notwithstanding. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way will be among the producers and the creator of the property (Otomo!) will be Executive Producing, which theoretically could help in the quality control department. Or he could be getting paid to just be quiet and Japanese.
Garrett Hedlund is mentioned as a possible leading man. Because he had worked with effects and because his hair looks awesome spiked. Guess it’s too much to ask for Hollywood to find a couple of Asian people to make big stars out of.
Still. A big budget Akira movie. I’m for it.
13 comments
Is it finally time for me to see Akira?
Read Akira. Then see Akira.
Other than the FX whore in me, I am not keen on this at all. I was so hoping it would just keep falling through.
The comics, and the original, are amazing.
Guess I need to watch this again. Bought it (on VHS) wayyy back in 1989 or so when it was getting all kinds of buzz. I remember three things: being underwhelmed, motorcycles with big wheels and, of course, TETSUOOOOOOO!!!
The VHS(and old DVD as I recall) also had a really awful dub/translation that featured a lot of the voice actors from the old Ninja Turtles cartoon. It was distracting.
Akira did nothing for me. I’ve been hoping for a Ninja Scroll by Takashi Mike.
Does the comic make more sense than the film Nick?
I see this going one of two ways: it’s a total disaster of epic proportions that bombs and vanishes into obscurity or it becomes the anime equivalent to the Resident Evil series.
In other words it craps all over the IP but includes enough attractive people, fight scenes, CGI and gore to attract a new fanbase. Queue years of people with knowledge of the original crying foul as sequel after sequel is pumped out, each one appeasing the new fans but no one else.
Or I could be wrong and it’s a complete game-changer. An epic film that welcomes a wave of live-action remakes of anime and manga, from Ghost in the Shell to The Wings of Honneamise. I’d love to be wrong but honestly, there’s more chance of me bumping into Cthulhu on the morning commute.
Well, at least I don’t have to waste time looking forward to this now….why didn’t they get the French guy from The Beach to do it, he’s actually a pretty good director, or for that matter Juan José Campanella. His “single shot” soccer scene in The Secret in Their Eyes was Children of Men-licious…oh well, let’s get the guy who cast Paris Hilton in a movie…
Honestly, I have no problems with the idea of a live-action, western adaptation of Akira. It’s just the talent behind this version that I’m worried about. I can easily see this as being an incredibly lazy sci-fi film about teens with superpowers. This movie needs to be absolutely insane, and I don’t see that happening.
They ain’t getting “epic” on a 90 mill budget with this subject matter.
Also, Unknown was dodgy as fuck. He has piss poor FX handling.
TETSUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
That being said, i agree with the last post — this really needs to be batshit insane — I wish someone like Zack Snyder could do it to the insane heights it deserves. Akira will indeed be the make-or-break Westernization of anime, and this isn’t the sort of thing one should dick about with.
ZZack Snyder shouldn’t be allowed to SEE the movie, let alone ruin it with his “style”.
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