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Monday
15Jun2009

Live-Action 'Akira' Not Happening

DateMonday, June 15, 2009 at 3:11AM
Although it probably would be worth seeing just on the basis of comparison, it appears that a live-action update of the anime classic, Akira, won't be happening. Bloody Disgusting reports that the movie is "dead as a doornail."

This is kind of a blow to Appian Way, Leonardo DiCaprio's production house, which had been developing the film for over a year. The company was working with Warner Bros. on the feature debut of director Rulairi Robinson, but whether it was proving too hard to transfer from animation to live-action or if it was too expensive or simply a matter of the hourglass running out of sand, Akira is going back on the shelf.

Fans have been split over the possibility of a new Akira but as I mentioned before, if you could simply compare the live-action version to the original without the threat of it subracting from Akira's pretty well-established legacy, then I think everyone who knows the material would be interested in seeing it.

I wonder where it goes from here, though. The world that Katsuhiro Otomo created is particularly cinematic, and would work very well in a movie. Bloody Disgusting says that rather than Neo Tokyo, the setting for the 1988 film, the new movie was to be set in a place called New Manhattan, so it might well have been a slightly different set of circumstances, which may have also posed some problems.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment3 Comments |

Reader Comments (3)

Do we get to see anything that they made or does it all get locked into a vault?

Monday, June 15, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterOrinn

They didn't make anything. Maybe some concept art or something.

Monday, June 15, 2009 | Registered CommenterColin Boyd

what a great site and informative posts, I will add a backlink and bookmark your site. Keep up the good work!

Saturday, October 10, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterBill Bartmann

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