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[Trevelyon]

"This has been circulating around on French Movie Boards. Akira creator Katsushiro Otomo made a cryptic mention in an interview about STEAMBOY (Which can read here - you'll have to search for "Akira"). The translation (via Babel Fish) is:

" Akira? I created the manga, then the animated drawing... The Pitof realizer plans d'en to make l adaptation in catches of real sights. I encourage highly. But for me, I'm finished. I do not want to be a prisoner in the whole world of it,"

I don't know if it rumor or is really happening. And I beg to the Movie gods that it is not. I know that the rights to AKIRA were at Warner Brothers when Steve Norrington was interested remaking it about two years ago. It would make sense that Pitof could get access to the project after it was put on hold. I have been trying to find out from friends all over the industry and nobody knows nothing either way"

http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=18511

I don't like idea of a live action Akira in the first place, let alone it be directed by some piece of shit, hack that makes Stephen Sommers look like Scorsese. I hope this shit isn't true, I mean its a babel translation afterall.

 

[Willco]

Pitof isn't a hack and he surely isn't responsible for the disaster that is Catwoman.

I don't want to see live-action Akira, though.

 

[DarienA]

Pitof isn't a hack and he surely isn't responsible for the disaster that is Catwoman.

I don't want to see live-action Akira, though.

Director's have to take SOME of the blame for what goes on screen even if they don't write it... you either look at the script and say "fuck no this is garbage" and move to another project or you stay on it an oversee filming of said garbage.

Boxoffice mojo Check:

Production Budget: $100 million
Est. Marketing Costs: $35 million

Domestic: $40,003,934
+ Overseas: $30,800,000
= Worldwide: $70,803,934

 

[Dan]

I saw this at Dark Horizons yesterday, and I checked out the original article, and Pitof is indeed mentioned, and it definitely says that he's the one planning on doing the live-action adaptation.

Can't say that we really need a live-action version, nor do I really care to see Pitof involved.

 

[XS+]

Dunno about a live action Akira, but that story is about due for a better adaptation than the original movie.. (but not at the risk of said remake being a turd because the license fell in the wrong hands)

 

[Meier]

Shit

 

[Drexon]

Now we know why there's no oscars for directing. =)

 

[Willco]

Director's have to take SOME of the blame for what goes on screen even if they don't write it... you either look at the script and say "fuck no this is garbage" and move to another project or you stay on it an oversee filming of said garbage.

Boxoffice mojo Check:

Production Budget: $100 million
Est. Marketing Costs: $35 million

Domestic: $40,003,934
+ Overseas: $30,800,000
= Worldwide: $70,803,934

It was a Warner Bros. production. That's all I've got to say about that.

 

[teiresias]

One-name directors should stick to porn.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

Let's nobody panic until they play the Boll card

 

[ge-man]

Why in the world do we need a live action Akira? Do producers still think that animation is not a legitimate form of film? That must be the case because I don't see how anyone can think that Akira doesn't stand on its own as an animated film. This is the equivalent of remaking a Hitchcock or Kubrick film--even if they manage to get everything right the film will never stand up to the original in the minds of fans.

 

[Greenpanda]

Now we know why there's no oscars for directing. =)

actually, there's an Oscar for Best Director

 

[Banjo Tango]

Pitof is cool - check out Vidocq.

It's basically a music-video action movie, and the twist doesn't make much sense... but it still rocks.

 

[Drexon]

actually, there's an Oscar for Best Director

Wag the dog, you lied to meeee!

 

[XS+]

This is the equivalent of remaking a Hitchcock or Kubrick film--even if they manage to get everything right the film will never stand up to the original in the minds of fans.

You never read the original comic.. Akira was a great movie but it doesn't hold up against its source material.

 

[deadhorse32]

Pitof = young (catwoman was his second movie) french director (Ex-FX guy for Jean Pierre Jeunet) in hollywood, his opinions means shit to the producers.

It's not a good or a bad director, he is average.

oh and a live action Akira movie IS A BAD IDEA

 

[teiresias]

Live-Action Akira, starring Justin Timberlake

 

[Doc Holliday]

I actually dont think its a bad idea.....Imagine James Cameron directing AKIRA

 

[heavy liquid]

I'd love to see a live-action Akira, but only if it's done right. I'd say Pitof isn't a step in the right direction, though.

I wonder if they'd base it off the anime or manga? Or perhaps they'll want to create a third version of events.

 

[AeroGod]

I still love what Ebert said in his review of Catwoman

The director, whose name is Pitof, was probably issued with two names at birth and would be wise to use the other one on his next project.

:lol

Im all for a live action Akira. Its going to take alot to get it to be good though. Im hoping though.

 

[DarienA]

Man as good as that made for TV Gary Daniels Fist of the North Star was... this live action Akira is probably gonna ROCK!







<note: the above post employed heavy amounts of sarcasm... Gary Daniels while a decent martial artist is not a good actor. Fist of the North Star was not a good movie... Pitof was not involved in it either, this is just a no connection rant. I mean come on I love Malcolm McDowell but him playing Ryuken, Chris Penn as Jackal? Ugh. oh yeah and wubba wubba wubba>

 

[tedtropy]

Ah geez, first talks of a live-action Evangelion and now this. Here's an idea, how about we get good English dubs of the existing series to begin with, then we can work on making them Hollywood-friendly. Eva's on its, what, 400th DVD release and the English dub is still crap. Akira had a whole to-do DVD re-release and...guess what? Is it so hard? Ghost in the Shell: STC had a pretty respectable dub.

Come on, can you imagine what a big CG-created Akira blob would look like?

 

[Scrow]

Live-Action Akira, starring Justin Timberlake

careful what you wish for....

 

[Dan]

Ah geez, first talks of a live-action Evangelion and now this.

Talks? It's past that. WETA's been doing designs for quite some time. If I recall right, it's pretty much planned to be WETA's big project right after King Kong. Of course, there's no director or stars yet, but there's been real work done on it. It's more likely than not to actually occur. There have been talks of a live-action Akira movie for at least the past decade, and nothing's gotten off the ground.

Come on, can you imagine what a big CG-created Akira blob would look like?

Probably something like the random giant weird blob at the end of The Hulk. *shudder*

 

[Flynn]

I actually dont think its a bad idea.....Imagine James Cameron directing AKIRA

Imagine James Cameron directing something....anything, Goddamnit!!

 

[teiresias]

I don't believe WETA is in any way contracted to do work for Evangelion. They were just hired to do preliminary design work, just like they were hired to do preliminary design work for "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" but I don't believe they're doing any effects work for that film either.

 

[Dan]

I don't believe WETA is in any way contracted to do work for Evangelion. They were just hired to do preliminary design work, just like they were hired to do preliminary design work for "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" but I don't believe they're doing any effects work for that film either.

I could be wrong, I don't know. I swear I'd read that WETA already had a big film geared up to move onto after King Kong, and I thought it was Evangelion. I can't say I've paid real close attention, because I think NGE is highly overrated shallow crap, so maybe I'm wrong.

Still, Evangelion is further down the pipe than Akira is, at least to our knowledge.

 

[tedtropy]

I could be wrong, I don't know. I swear I'd read that WETA already had a big film geared up to move onto after King Kong, and I thought it was Evangelion. I can't say I've paid real close attention, because I think NGE is highly overrated shallow crap, so maybe I'm wrong.

Still, Evangelion is further down the pipe than Akira is, at least to our knowledge.

Yeah, I saw some of their concept drawings, but I don't think anything's really been done further than that. From what I've seen, there's alot of 'Americanization' going on. And no, I don't mean we're bombing it into Democracy. The characters and even their names are rumored to be going through some drastic changes. Rei's name will probably be Britney by the time it's done. As for the original series, I enjoyed it, but it's obvious Annko's was big on shoving as much supposed symbolism into it as possible. It had fairly poor and inconsistent animation, which is why I was hoping these latest re-releases would've cleaned it up some, but nope. It seems as though Hollywood's starting to recognize the popularity of Anime in America, but not really the reasons behind it. Anime is great BECAUSE it is animated and therein has a basically unlimited range of visual style.

 

[Burger]

My boss went to WETA studios the other week and mentioned they were still doing Lion Witch & Wardrobe stuff.

Life action Akira would SUCK. If WB have anything to do with it, we will see some lame PG-13 film with no swearing.

Don't get me started on how the plot will be dumbed down so joe-fucking-american public can get some sort of vague idea on what might be happening.