The live-action ‘Akira‘ movie has been in pre-development for years and now two directors are being eyed to tackle the film. Likely, we won’t see too much movement on this until ‘Ghost in the Shell’ is released on the big screen as if it flops the plans for this might be scrubbed, but for now it seems like a new take on this classic story is going to happen. ‘Akira’ is often cited as the biggest push of what brought anime into the mainstream conscious of America and was the first film that truly was able to whet the Western appetite for all things Anime and Manga.
With things looking good in the pre-production department it would appear that both David F. Sandberg (‘Lights Out’) and Daniel Espinosa (‘Life‘,’Safe House’) are being eyed to adapt this story. Warner Brothers are also courting these two for Sandberg to work on ‘Shazam’ and Espinosa to tackle another DC film with ‘Suicide Squad 2’ being the likely candidate.
We’ve seen a lot of success in recent years on indie directors being given blockbusters to work on and these two might be able to put together an entertaining film. I’m just worried as to exactly how Americanized it would end up being with the location of Japan being so key to the original ‘Akira’ ambiance. A year ago I would have outright said that this movie was a horrible idea but early trailers of ‘Ghost in the Shell’ has shown that we might not fully ruin the source material with these live-action adaptations so I’m willing to give it a shot, depending how casting and the plot plays out.
Would you prefer either of these two to tackle one of the most recognized names in anime or does this smell like a horrible Hollywood idea? Share your thoughts below!
Source: Meet the Movie Press
Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!
