Live action Akira may not be dead after all
The 1988 anime adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo’s epic sci-fi manga Akira was so damn good, it’s hard to get excited about continual rumors of its inevitable Hollywoodization. But those rumors are back, this time with From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes attached.
Albert Hughes has been discussing Warner Bros. intention to tone the potential live action Akira film down to achieve a PG-13 rating, which won’t be a popular notion with fans of the Japanese original, though he doesn’t sound too enamoured with the idea of it being a multi-part project. Iron Man screenwriters Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus apparently have pens in their hands already as Warner makes a big push to get the troubled project moving. IMDB is still showing the film as having a 2013 release date, though I wouldn’t take that as red just yet.
Akira was originally a massive, multi-tome manga graphic novel in which kids are imbued with powerful psychic abilities in a secret military project. When the kids get out of hand, and a gang of biker street punks turn up and start causing havoc, all hell breaks loose after the futuristic city is destroyed. It’s a contemporary epic that’s easily on a par with The Matrix, and possibly even Star Wars, so it’s going to take a lot of money, care and special effects to realize Akira as a live action movie.
Opinions remain divided on the matter.
Personally, I’d like to see a low-budget adaptation of Domu.
[Via Vulture]
Does anybody else thinks that they’ll mess it up with a live action film?
Leave it alone!
NO! Leave it Alone! Why does Warner Bros. even feel the need to redo this epic or even think that they can improve it? Hopefully this is nothing more than a rumor and not a serious consideration.