Hughes Brothers in Talks to Direct 'Akira" Film

"Book of Eli" directors Albert and Allen Hughes will be picking up a different book for their next movie collaboration — none other than "Akira," the adaptation of the popular manga series.

According to New York Magazine, Warner Bros. is currently negotiating a deal with the Hughes brothers to direct the live-action adaptation of "Akira," which comes from a script by "Iron Man" writers Mark Fergus and Hawk Otsby. Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way is producing.

"Akira," written and illustrated by Katsuhiro Otomo, takes place in the post-apocalyptic city of Neo-Tokyo and focuses on a biker gang led by the charismatic Kaneda. His best friend is Tetsuo, a man that develops psychic abilities and rapidly loses hold of his sanity. As Tetsuo's powers grow deadlier and deadlier, Kaneda is forced to face the reality that he must put a stop to his closest friend, even if that means killing him.

The story was already adapted as a 1988 anime, though that version of the story shaved off a significant amount of the manga's events. Apparently WB wants to get the full story out of respect for the manga's extreme complexity and wants to make the live-action feature into two films. The first three mangas out of the six volume series will comprise the first film, due out in theaters next year.

So will they shoot the two movies back-to-back?

Back in the summer of ‘09 it was looking like the "Akira" movie was dead; then in the fall we got word that WB is still developing the movie and that Fergus and Ostby are penning the script. Despite what some have said about the start, stop, start, stop motion of this "Akira" flick, it seems as though the development of the film is indeed coming along if the studio is looking at directors.

What do you think of the Hughes Brothers directing two live-action "Akira" movies?
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: MTV News, Screen Rant, First Showing

'Akira' Movie Still Alive With 'Iron Man' Screenwriters

We all thought the live-action “Akira” movie was dead and buried, but we were wrong.

According to Collider, the update on Katsuhiro Otomo’s popular anime (based on his graphic novel) is still breathing, though it’s not exactly up and walking around just yet.

Warner Bros. has kept the project in development and is about to receive a new script from Oscar nominees Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, whose joint credits include “Children of Men,” “Iron Man” and the upcoming “Cowboys & Aliens” (which recently added director Jon Favreau and actor Robert Downey Jr.).

The "Akira" anime was set in “Neo-Tokyo” of 2019, but the American live-action remake will transport the story to “New Manhattan.” Also important to note: the iconic electro-magnetic cycle ridden by main character Kaneda in the original anime will also appear in the live-action version. Beyond that, details of the film are still pretty vague at this early stage.

The "Akira" anime tells the tale of a futuristic motorcycle gang whose youngest member, Tetsuo, winds up in a government lab after a bad bike accident. When the government's tests unlock massive psychic energies in Tetsuo, the young boy sets out to wreak vengeance on those who mistreated him, even as his new powers spiral grossly out of control.

According to Collider’s sources, if the current draft of the script gets the necessary stamp of approval, the "Akira" movie could go into production as soon as next year, aimed for a 2011 release date. The film has long been gestating over at WB, with Leonardo Dicaprio’s Appian Way production company also working to develop the project.
Even being a big fan of the original anime, I'm still very excited to one day see this. Word is that it may get a huge budget, which I think is the first step in the right direction, considering they really need to make this pretty epic to live up to the anime. Now if Fergus and Ostby's script turns out pretty great, they just need to find a director who can take all their writing and turn it into an excellent movie.

Are you glad the “Akira” remake is still alive?
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: Screen Rant, MTV News, First Showing

'Akira' Movie is Dead

It was a year ago when it was officially announced that Warner Brothers and Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way were developing a live-action version of the anime "Akira" with first-time Irish director Ruairi Robinson. So now its been 15 months and we haven't heard much - but that's because its been struggling internally at the studio. Bloody Disgusting now confirms via "two separate sources" that the project is "dead as a doornail." Robinson is apparently also off of the project.

"Akira" originated in 1988 as a manga and then as an animated film co-written and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo. The story was set in a neon-lit futuristic post-nuclear war "New Tokyo" in 2019 where a teen biker gang member is subjected to a government experiment which unleashes his latent powers. The gang's leader must find a way to stop the ensuing swathe of destruction.

With its mature themes and cutting-edge animation, "Akira" was a milestone movie in anime and even animation circles, and led the way for anime making inroads into Western pop culture in the 1990s.

The new story was to move the action to "New Manhattan," a city rebuilt by Japanese money and was to hit theaters THIS summer. Guess that didn't happen...

Maybe this project will sit for a few years until it is picked up again and made into an awesome movie. Heck, it took 10 years for the first "Batman" movie to get made. Let's just wait a while.

More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: BD, First Showing

Manga Movie Madness

Leonardo DiCaprio and his production company, Appian Way, are setting their sights on making comic book movies. Not just any comics though, famous mangas and anime!

Appian Way has been picking up classic heavy-hitters from the world of Japanese manga and anime — most notably “Akira” and “Ninja Scroll” — to develop into live-action feature films.

“We’re waiting for the final draft of the script [for 'Akira'],” DiCaprio told MTV. “I’m a big fan of Japanese anime — that and another project called ‘Ninja Scroll’ we’re trying to get developed and made into a movie, and I know there a lot of loyal fans out there of the project and die-hard fans, so we’re going to try to do the best job we possibly can and we’re not going to make the movie until the script is in the right shape.”

DiCaprio made it clear that he will only be producing these films and will not act in either of them.

“Ninja Scroll” is one of the most popular anime movies outside of Japan, ranking alongside the classics “Ghost in the Shell” and “Akira.” It’s a dark and gruesome story, following Jubei Kibagami, a ninja who finds himself on a quest to defeat the Eight Devils of Kimon. The villains include a hunchback, who boasts a wasp’s nest as his deformity, a giant man with stone skin, and a woman with snake tattoos which can come to life.

I already mentioned the Akira film here.

I am a fan of both anime films and will definitely be seeing how the live-action adaptations compare with the anime.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!

A Look at the Live-Action Akira Script

Latino Review got to take a look at the script for the live-action version of one of the most influential anime films of all time, Akira.

Akira is about a secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psionic psychopath that only two kids and a group of psionics can stop.

The live-action version is going to be split into two films, with one of them supposedly coming out in 2009.

"The story takes place in a burgeoning new metropolis of the future, several years after a cataclysmic event destroyed the old city that once stood in its place. Unbeknownst to most of the populace, the real cause of the event was a small boy with incredible psychic powers, part of a top secret government program attempting to harness such so called “Espers” as weapons. The project is deemed too dangerous, and the young boy – AKIRA – is put in cryogenic stasis in a secret underground facility to prevent such a disaster from ever occurring again. In probably the most significant change and the only one that really bugged me, the events of this version are shifted from Tokyo to New York – but after the city is destroyed and the United States’ economy collapses, burgeoning superpower Japan buys the devastated island to construct a new city to house their ever expanding population. So the film will still technically be set in New Tokyo, but on the island of Manhattan, and with about half the characters being American and the rest remaining Japanese. It’s a somewhat odd way of appealing to American audiences and fans alike, and feels somewhat awkward, but does allow for some up to date political commentary.

In the ruins of the surrounding boroughs live KANEDA and TRAVIS, two young men who became good friends after being orphaned by the disaster and have since looked out for each other. They are now part of a biker gang called the Red Devils, which tries to maintain the peace in the lawless, neglected, impoverished outskirts they call home. KANEDA is the cocky leader, like a big brother to restless TRAVIS. Following a run-in with a rival gang and a chance encounter with some people smuggling a strange young boy out of the city, TRAVIS inadvertently unlocks dormant psychic abilities and KANEDA gets involved in a resistance movement attempting to stop the resurrected Espers research program, headed by the military and Vanguard, a Blackwater-esque private military contractor. SHACKLETON, an army colonel who was part of the original experiments, mainly wants to contain these powerful psychics and protect the city, while NELLIS, defense secretary in the pocket of Vanguard, wants to restart the weapons development side of the program.

With the help of his new allies RAY, former Vanguard employee and leader of the resistance, and KAY, one of their former test subjects, Kaneda attempts to rescue Travis, who has been taken into custody by Shackleton and his team. Travis’ new powers are so powerful that they awaken the mind of the sleeping Akira, and Shackleton fears a repeat of the cataclysmic event that destroyed the city so many years before. Travis finds himself inexplicably drawn to Akira, and, his ego and powers spiraling out of control, he escapes from captivity and goes on a rampage of destruction trying to reach the secret facility where Akira is kept. The story becomes a race to stop him – Kaneda, Kay, and Travis’ girlfriend KAORI wanting to bring him back alive and sane, and Shackleton intent on destroying him to prevent another apocalyptic event. True to the epic scope of the original, this is only part one of two planned movies, so the script ends with a huge but intriguing cliffhanger."

The script sounds solid and to me (who loves the anime) is pretty faithful to the original except for minor tweaking to Americanize it (since it originally took place in Japan and there were no American names, like Travis was called Tetsuyo).

"The big, looming unknown that remains now is if the quality of the filmmaking can not only do justice to the words on the page, but ultimately to help justify the whole thing’s existence. The original is known as much if not more so for being a stunning visual feast as it is for its story and themes, so if this project fails in that regard it will probably be a disappointment regardless of how true the script is to the source. And at the same time, I think what I’ve said above applies to currently slated director Ruiri Robinson just as much as it does to the writer; if he just apes the visual style and shots of the original it’ll get points for being faithful but won’t be very exciting or interesting. It’s going to need to look just as good, but at the same time different to really stand apart from the other version, at least in the eyes of this fan."

The anime is known to have been so influential for its stunning visuals which had never been seen before in an animated feature.

Will the Akira movie be faithful for the fans? Will people who have never heard of it be willing to see it?
More news to come! Catch ya' later!