In 2019, Warner Bros. announced that Taika Waititi will direct its live-action adaptation of the popular Japanese anime Akira. However, there has been little to no information on the film since then.
Now, four years later, there is finally an update on the highly anticipated film and it sounds promising. Justin Kroll, a senior Deadline reporter, recently put up a tweet to his Twitter page where he revealed that Waititi is still attached to the project. He stated that the filmmaker put the film’s development on hold to work on Thor: Love and Thunder and he is now set to resume work on it.
In his words, “Since everyone is wondering where his STAR WARS film is, if I were a betting man my guess is Taika’s next movie is his AKIRA movie at WB, which he put on shelf to do L&T. He never left the film and word is script should be into studio soon. Again nothing set in stone as the film would go through regular process before greenlight including figuring out a budget but sounds like all his focus is on that project.”
Since everyone is wondering where his STAR WARS film is, if I were a betting man my guess is Taika’s next movie is his AKIRA movie at WB, which he put on shelf to do L&T. He never left the film and word is script should be into studio soon.
— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) April 8, 2023
Warner Bros. Discovery’s attempts to deliver a live-action Akira film have encountered many hurdles ever since the studio bought the rights in 2002. So far, a total of 5 directors and 10 writers have joined and left the project. Before Warner Bros., Sony Pictures Entertainment had a go at the franchise. The entertainment company acquired its rights in the 1990s but couldn’t bring its plans to fruition reportedly due to financial reasons.
While the long silence on the project, as well as the fact that Waititi has worked on Thor: Love and Thunder since he was announced as Akira’s director, suggested that the project had reached another roadblock, Kroll’s report is restoring faith that the project will eventually be accomplished.
According to its official synopsis, Akira is set in “Neo-Tokyo, 2019. The city is well on the way to rebuilding after World War III. The central characters, Kaneda and Tetsuo, two high school drop-outs, are members of a joy-riding motorcycle gang. In the opening scene, Kaneda and Tetsuo stumble upon a secret government project to develop telekinetic humans, apparently for use as weapons. Tetsuo learns of the existence of his ‘peer’ Akira, the project’s most powerful subject, and determines to challenge him…”
Apart from directing, Waititi will co-write the film alongside Michael Golamco. Jennifer Davisson, Andrew Lazar, as well as Leonardo DiCaprio, will serve as producers.
Given that Waititi has reportedly only just finished the script, the film is a long way from fruition. It may or may not come out after Waititi’s Star Wars film for Disney.
Speaking of Waititi, his latest MCU outing didn’t do too well with critics and at the global box office. Mark Ruffalo is even joking he should come back to star in Thor 5 to “save” the film.
