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Akira Live Action Movie Just Won’t Die

By Valerie Complex

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“Another Anime Adaptation We Didn’t Ask For, Don’t Want, and Don’t Care About!”

Warner Bros. will torture fans with a whitewashed, Hollywood, live action adaptation of Akira. Written by Katsuhiro Otomo (film by Otomo, and Izo Hashimoto), Akira is an anime legend that catapulted the Japanese art form into the American mainstream.

Here is the original synopsis of Akira:

"In 1988 the Japanese government drops an atomic bomb on Tokyo after ESP experiments on children go awry. In 2019, 31 years after nuking the city, Kaneda, a bike gang leader, tries to save his friend Tetsuo from a secret government project. He battles against anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists and a powerful military leader until Tetsuo’s supernatural power suddenly manifest. A final battle is fought in Neo-Tokyo Olympiad exposing the experiment’s secrets."

For 12 years, Hollywood has been fighting tooth and nail to get a live action film made to no avail. It has been stuck in development hell due to having an over-inflated budget. The last time fans heard anything about it was 2012. At that time, there were some major star power attached to the film. Leonard DiCaprio brought the rights to the property and was scheduled to produce. Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, Ken Wantanabe, and Helena Bonham Carter were also attached to star in the project. Thankfully, this project fell through, and nothing was spoken of it until now ….

Leonardo DiCaprio and Andrew Lazar (American Sniper) are on board again to produce, and writer Marco J. Ramirez (Daredevil Season 2), will pen the script. This is the synopsis from 2012, and looks like it still stands. In typical fashion, it sounds like whitewashing is afoot:

"Set in a future city environment called New Manhattan, the sci-fi epic follows the leader of a bike gang who must save his best friend, who has been experimented on by the government causing him to develop dangerous and destructive psychokinetic powers."

No one asked for a watered down version of one of Japan’s most popular animated features. Akira is a story rich in Japanese folklore, which will probably be all but erased. If you want to watch something that captures the heart of Akira but is not a direct remake of it, watch Josh Trank’s film Chronicle. 

Source: Comingsoon.net

Pictures: Google Images

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