Likely just after the first Heavy Metal movie, I would have to say that Akira is likely the movie that was most inspirational to me in the area of animated film for the awesome visuals and intense storytelling. Ever since I heard mumblings that they were going to attempt a live action Akira movie I was excited and worried at the same time.
With a little bit of progress, we catch that ComingSoon.net found out:
Warner Bros. Pictures has hired Oscar-nominated Irish director Ruairi Robinson to helm the big screen Akira adaptation. Robinson received a nomination in 2001 for his animated short film Fifty Percent Grey.
Now I honestly don’t know much about this guy, though he seems to come with some acclaim, so I have little hope that this project is in good hands. I checked out the short film Fifty Percent Grey and it is pretty amusing and thought provoking in its delivery, however that is such a different world of storytelling than a live action feature film.
This is such a massive undertaking to attempt to bring life to a movie so deeply set in the minds of Anime fans as an untouchable classic. Then to take it live action makes me wonder just HOW they are going to pull this off and not ruin it all. This guy seems to have a notable history with computer animation, but how this will translate over to directing a feature length live action film?
This reminds me of a certain movie that shall-not-be-named, and its producer’s insistence that some fancy effects specialist be giving the big comfy seat helming another movie of epic fanbase. And we all know how confident we are in that project.
HOLLYWOOD MAKING MOVIES BASED ON ANIME.
Akira,Dragonball Z,Evangelion and Ninja Scroll are all going to movies,same with Battle Angel Alita and Sailor Moon.
My is Ninja Scroll and the Mortal Kombat movie Larry Kasanoff and his company Threshold Entertainment still have the rights to the series and Madhouse will join forces with them with sean Catharine Derek and Joshua Wexler will work on the script and Jonathan Sloate to do music for the film.
Thank You.
BRUCE ACOSTA
AUSTRALIA.
protip: casshern was fucking terrible.
also: i think akira is better known then evangalion and is better source for a film then dragonball.
Live-action Akira has been in development hell forever. Honestly, I would be very, very surprised if it’s ever made…I mean – 20th Century Fox has DragonBall Z in development with a supposed $100 million budget, but even that’s a bit ‘iffy’ on the ‘gonna get made’ list.
WETA couldn’t get Evangelion live-action off the ground, so I would be very, very surprised with this one.
Plus, why would anyone want to see an ‘Americanized’ Akira film? I would prefer that it be made in Japan, directed by someone like Kazuaki Kiriya (Casshern) with a proper Japanese cast
I read the Akira comic in high school and went to see it in the theaters when it had it short limited released…I love this story. I even have copy of the DVD on my shelf. I can’t say I feel good about a live action version. If done correctly it would be so good, but I can see them watering it down and probably dumbing it down for a broader audience. Also, how will they address the violence? Will the final cut be an R rating? I don’t know. I will keep my expectations low for now.
if you ask me it has to be in japan.
I like the short.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MfNyfwwfV4
Comparing Ruairi Robinson and Neil Bloomkamp is not a leap in logic especially when you watch both of their short films which involve futuristic army guys running around in bombed out city.
Right now I have to say I like Ruairi’s slower pacing and his wide shots of charred buildings.I realize the Halo movie was based of a video game but the shots in the Halo shorts all see to be pretty sloppy and boring To cover that up they added a lot of laser battle goggle vision effects.
Akira is my 2nd favorite movie of all time.
It introduced me to the concept of an apocalypse which gave me nightmares and also introduced me to cool art from Japan.
There are maybe only a couple of film properties I could get worked up to go fan boy internet crazy as hell about and Akira is one of them.
I think Akira gets a bad rap due to the confusing original english dub.I prefer that dub because it was the first version I saw but I understand why they made a new dub in 2000.
The Akira manga has several phone book sized volumes which explains the world in greater detail which could serve the filmakers well.
They would also do well to consult with Katsuhiro Otomo.
There is so much potential for an awesome epic live action film with Akira.
Futuristic bike gangs racing around a city in a fight for love,friendship and a future that does not include annihilation by government grown mutant children sounds like a great movie to me.
I am excited to see what directions this could take.
I do not think an asian over an english director is required.
I do think I would be pretty disappointed if the film was not set in a post apocalyptic Japan in favor of New York or something.
i can totally see it working fine live action.
i think that CGI would make it gay as balls and ruin any hope it had of being ana ctual good movie.
CGI it with the help of Square Enix, sounds like a much better option which increases the films versitility 10 fold.
Live action…….just cant see it working.
This will be one film that I really do not want to see.
f yeah.
i will shit my pants if this stays true to the original.
imagine that first motorcycle chase in live action….tetsuo deflecting lasers and taking down bridges. snap.
amazing.
Nice ‘un Ruairi.
His site:
http://www.ruairirobinson.com
With all due respect to Coming Soon, I think it is a huge leap of logic to (indirectly) compare Ruairi Robinson to Neil Blomkamp. As mentioned, Robinson was nominated for an Oscar. But MAN do they sell Ruairi Robinson short. He not only has a background in visual effects, but he co-produced them, wrote them, edited and directed his short films. He’s also lent his talents in storyboarding and FX in other people’s short films.
He also directed the short ‘Silent City’, which had actors in it and used techniques that we have seen like in ‘300’ and ‘Sky Captain’. I’m sure that’s what Akira might look like.
Also since Robinson’s an Oscar nominee and Blomkamp isn’t says a few things; but what speaks volumes is that Robinson does other projects unrelated to the job he is currently up for….and something that isn’t slapped together from other sources.
It should *also* be said that Blomkamp on Halo was the least of that project’s problems. Along with the over budget, Bungi/Mircosoft not allowing collaborative efforts with others was.
I’m going to sit back and see where this goes. I like Akira, so it will be interesting how a live action film works. I mean, were talking about the movie that introduced the world to anime. THAT is a massive undertaking!
I don’t know how the hell they’ll pull off the ending scene in the stadium with Tetsuo’s transformation. I guess we’ll all just have to wait and see.
Oh, if they do this right (which is a big possibility), it’s going to be A W E S O M E.
Holy crap. I know there was a rumor that there was going to be a live action Akira movie, but I never knew it was actually going to be made. I, too, wonder how they will match the visuals of the anime. All CG maybe? Or will they go the Ghost in the Shell: Innocence style route and just remake the original with new animation cells on CG backgrounds?
It will interesting for sure.