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Taika Waititi in talks for "Akira."

T

torre_avenue

Banned
Per deadline:
Akira is revving back up, with Warner Bros negotiating with Taika Waititi, the New Zealand-born director and actor who helmed Thor: Ragnarok. Pic is a live action version of anime artist Katsuhiro Otomo’s 6-volume graphic novel. The story takes place in the rebuilt New Manhattan where a leader of a biker gang saves his friend from a medical experiment. Mad Chance’s Lazar is producing with Appian Way’s Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson. The picture has been a big priority since Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures acquired it for 7-figures from manga publisher Kodansha. The intention has always been to make 2 films, each covering 3 books in the series. Akira was first adapted for the screen in 1988.
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But it's not his next project though.
Waititi’s booked next to direct Jojo Rabbit, a WWII dramedy that is set up at Fox Searchlight with a spring start date. Waititi wrote the script. CAA and Manage-ment rep him.
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My take on this is, WB is going to every "hot" indie director with a pulse with this, praying one is foolish enough to sign on.
 
B

Bobby Roberts

Banned
You can't put it in Manhattan
You can't cast a bunch of white people.
You can't put all 6 volumes in a single 2 hour movie.


This whole project has begun as a completely busted premise for over a fuckin' decade now and they're still pursuing it, only now they're going after people of color as if that's gonna provide them cover from a cinematic whitewash that was going to be the first of its type and is now like, what, the umpteenth example in the last 5 years that people aren't gonna fuckin' go for this?
 
D

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
He's a lot more interesting than most of the people who have previously been attached to this, but the biggest problem will always be WB's need to westernize and whitewash the story. Unless they're willing to change that approach, no thanks.
 
P

ponpo

( ≖‿≖)
They already made a white Akira movie. What was it called again? It was that found footage movie that basically stole most of the plot.
 
A

Arkeband

Banned
Unless they literally shoot it with a Japanese cast fluent in English in Japan, which defeats the point, this will flop.
 
U

ultracal31

You don't get to bring friends.
Every time Akira gets shoved out in the news like this I get confused why they desperately want it made.

It's been decades man, let it go...
 
B

Bronx-Man

Banned
WB spending decades to force out an Akira movie reminds me of how the NFL spent decades after the Rams left to force a new football team in Los Angles.

Spoiler alert: It will suck, it will make fans angry, and no one will watch when it finally comes.
 
M

MMarston

Was getting caught part of your plan?
But guys

There already was a live-action Akira movie

747799.jpg
 
W

wandering

Banned
ponpo said:
They already made a white Akira movie. What was it called again? It was that found footage movie that basically stole most of the plot.
Click to expand...

Chronicle. It was pretty decent.

Honestly, it seems the way to go for anime inspiration. The Matrix, Inception, Black Swan, Pacific Rim. Just take the ideas and make a new movie instead of trying to sell it on the name of the IP.
 
N

neptunes

Member
There's an infinite amount of original ideas they could come up with.

Why are they trying to make anime to film a thing?
 
P

ponpo

( ≖‿≖)
wandering said:
Chronicle. It was pretty decent.

Honestly, it seems the way to go for anime inspiration. The Matrix, Inception, Black Swan, Pacific Rim. Just take the ideas and make a new movie instead of trying to sell it on the name of the IP.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah that's it. Don't remember much but I remember disliking it. I think the similarities to Akira just threw me off and I was unable to enjoy it for what it was.
 
Grizzlyjin

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Too much story to cover in one film. You follow the source material and it isn't going to give fans the moments they wanted until the end of a hypothetical trilogy. You break it down to speed things up and you have...well Chronicle, which is still kinda rushed in spots. And that movie glosses over the source of the weirdness, which you probably shouldn't do in Akira cause that's important.

And if you plug & chug the animated film into live action, it'll get savaged by critics and probably audiences too. I love that movie, but it goes off into arthouse la la land because of how much story they're trying to fit into a few minutes.

Taika seems like the type of director who wants to have fun with his projects. I don't know why he'd ever want to get in bed with this mess. It sounds like a nightmare in the making.
 
S

sonicmj1

Member
Bobby Roberts said:
You can't put it in Manhattan
You can't cast a bunch of white people.
You can't put all 6 volumes in a single 2 hour movie.


This whole project has begun as a completely busted premise for over a fuckin' decade now and they're still pursuing it, only now they're going after people of color as if that's gonna provide them cover from a cinematic whitewash that was going to be the first of its type and is now like, what, the umpteenth example in the last 5 years that people aren't gonna fuckin' go for this?
Click to expand...

I mean, they're not gonna make all six volumes one movie.

The intention has always been to make 2 films, each covering 3 books in the series.
Click to expand...

You can absolutely set it in (New) Manhattan, but I think if they whitewash it they miss a big opportunity. Make [Kaneda]'s biker gang more diverse, and you can reach some of the themes of the original in a way that speaks to American cultural anxieties.

It's still amazing that this project lumbers on after so many false starts.
 
U

ultracal31

You don't get to bring friends.
Bronx-Man said:
Spoiler alert: It will suck, it will make fans angry, and no one will watch when it finally comes.
Click to expand...

But but but we need to copy that one shot of the bike that everyone knows in the trailer so those youtubers can make trailer breakdown videos based on that one shot
 
H

HomerSimpson-Man

Member
Don't do it.

For the love of all that is good, don't do it.

Even with the best intentions, a live-action Akira adaptation is just a recipe for a mess of a film.
 
B

Bobby Roberts

Banned
sonicmj1 said:
I mean, they're not gonna make all six volumes one movie.
Click to expand...

And they're not gonna make the first three into anything anyone wants to come back for in Part 2, either.

The shit is fucked. Been fucked. Use it as inspiration, maybe. But don't call it Akira. Don't even base it on Akira.

Like I said in the Box-Office thread, you thought people were beating that "Snyder doesn't get Watchmen" drum? Wait till anyone tries to push this motherfucker through with Chris and Travis in New Manhattan.
 
N

Nightwing123

Member
I don't have that much faith in this but I would like it if they would at least cast an Asian actor in the lead role. Akira in general is inherently Japanese but I see them talking more of a Chronicle like approach on the series.

I'm probably going to hate this movie.
 
H

HomerSimpson-Man

Member
robotrock said:
It's always the Akiras and the Ghost in the Shells and the Death Notes, but why not Evangelion?
Click to expand...

Good god, no. Evangelion is already is a mess of a series. It just what we need; emotional antsy annoying teenagers in a live action film about giant robots fighting giant monsters from a creator who depression leaked into his series basically saying "fuck you all" at the end. That would put people in seats in the theaters!

At least Power Rangers has fun with itself.

Doesn't matter how good the director is or crew, whatever, the whole premise of it in live action sounds screwed from the get to justify the production budget.
 
C

cruets

Member
Hollywood wanna blow $150 million on this whitewash, go ahead. We can all laugh when it bombs

They've learned nothing from ghost in the shell and Dragonball.

Too bad HBO can't do a Akira series instead for cable TV
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Why would they need to put it in America anyway? No one gives a shit when Bond or Fast and the Furious is in all kinds of foreign locations.
 
D

DMVfan123

Banned
None of the other Americanized anime live-action movies made any money, so why are Warner Brothers so dead set on making this one a thing?
 
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