Hollywood announces new live action Akira films

Paul

Paul

Ghost of Animes
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<a href="http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/5541/1/">Hollywood news</a> outlets are reporting that a live action film version of <em><strong>Akira </strong></em>has been pushed into production by Warner Bros. with a view to being fast-tracked and released by the summer of 2009; to be more specific, two movies in this new adaptation of <em>Akira </em>are being planned and they intend to cover all of Katsuhiro Otomo's seminal six-volume manga series; the movies, which will cover three volumes each, are already being described as "Blade Runner" meets "City of God." The films will be directed by relative newcomer <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1099711/">Ruairi Robinson</a>, an Irish man with no big budget credits to his name, while <a href="http://www.aintitcool.com/node/35680">Aint It Cool News suggests</a> that <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0330687/">Joseph Gordon Levitt</a> will be playing <em>Tetsuo </em>and "have it on good authority" that <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000138/">Leonardo DiCaprio</a> has signed on as <em>Kaneda</em>.

Arguably the most controversial aspect is that the story will now be set in "New Manhattan" ("a metropolis that was rebuilt after being destroyed 31 years earlier"), as opposed to the original setting of Neo-Tokyo. Given this major change, it remains to be seen what else has been removed from Otomo's beloved original story to accommodate this new Hollywood production.
 
Though I'm impressed with the actors involved, I'm totally disappointed at how they seem to be removing the Japanese cultural elements from Akira and replacing them with North American equivalents. To be an awesome film... I just can't it working if the story is being lobotomized in such a way, I mean, are all these American actors going to have Japanese names? This could be a really fantastic film if they capture the kind of exciting energy of the original work/anime, but I'm worried all this tinkering is going to water it down. Oh well, one thing is for sure, it'll be better than Dragonball.

And come to think of it, the US/anime film with the most potential is James Cameron's version of Battle Angel Alita. It's so perfect in many ways for such an adaptation, and the given the director involved, it's the one anime/manga film I'm genuinely excited to see, rather than, you know, worried it will be a massive disaster that'll ruin the reputation of anime for a long time (again, points at Dragonball).
 
Paul said:
Given this major change, it remains to be seen what else has been removed from Otomo's beloved original story to accommodate this new Hollywood production.
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I'm betting to find the following on the Hollywood cutting floor:
- The plot and any semblance of the original story
- Any character an American audience can't associate with
- Any location that isn't America
- Anything that would make this a good film.
- Kanada's bike, cause even though it's frikkin awesome some buggers going to have to mess with it somehow...

Sorry to sound so negative, but I'm fairly disillusioned when it comes to Hollywood... :x
 
Paul said:
Arguably the most controversial aspect is that the story will now be set in "New Manhattan" ("a metropolis that was rebuilt after being destroyed 31 years earlier"), as opposed to the original setting of Neo-Tokyo. Given this major change, it remains to be seen what else has been removed from Otomo's beloved original story to accommodate this new Hollywood production.
Click to expand...

Oh dear!! :(
 
Another anime/manga adapted film dumb downed for the dumb Americans or joy. Some times i'm surprised that they even know that there are other places out there apart from there 50 states an or yes Afghanistan, Iraq an Iran. I mean anything not involving any of those places they end up changing to be set there, anywhere else an i'm sure there tiny minds will go pop. It will be like finding out the world if round an not flat all over again for them.
Guess we shall see if they end up keeping anything from the manga at all? Can't say it looks to promising that they will though.
 
hmmm I'm not sure how I feel about this at the moment.On the one hand, as an anime fan the prospect of a live action Akira film that would be accessible to me at any local cinema does get me excited.But then there is the Americanization of,well everything about the original manga and film, that will happen.I don't want to see my Kaneda with a different name or the setting be anywhere other then Neo-Tokyo.The development of this film does interest me more then the Dragon Ball film,but much like that, I fear too much will be changed for my liking which will only leave me in the cinema picking up on parts that they changed or didn't put in.Ultimately,I would be completely distracted and wouldn't be able to see it as anything else other then a failed attempt.Which is silly, as it may turn out to be amazing despite changes.
 
As long as they keep the characters respected original names, I'm fine with Americanization. Won't ruin the film, and it won't exactly ruin the series, as long as Akira LA movie has the same exact type of setting.
 
I say give it a chance. Hollywood adaptations never stick to the source very much - there are some people that are instantly put off if they hear that. Thing is, it could be a good movie.
 
As someone mentioned on the ANN Forum whilst I was lurking. It seems America are going for another 9/11 apocalypse film, As that basically what Cloverfield was subliminally doing and now this.

I do have mixed feelings about what this film, I haven't read the manga, Its such a expensive set to buy because £50+ isn't exactly appealing. I'm happy that they have giving it two films to do it all and that's basically the only thing I'm happy about. Also, Like, Its totally going to be Americanised, I'm just waiting for Tetsuo to be named Tom [THE IRON MAN] or something totally ridiculous. Anyway, I have some expectations and hope they can pull it off (I even have expectations for the DragonBall movie, I hope that rocks!)

Also, Surely a unnamed country.. Entirely fictional, Or, At least, Neo Manhattan would have been a better choice. The word Neo, Just give the place the "edge" I think.
 
I'll watch it for curiosity's sake but I won't walk in expecting anything great. The change of setting isn't bad in of itself but if they're so quick to alter that, what else will be changed too?

"Blade Runner" meets "City of God."
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We can only hope. :-/
 
Akira was always going to be a possible source once they'd exhausted every American comic book. The post-apocalyptic setting (apparently transplanted to NYC) just makes it even more sellable.
 
Yay, awesome news as I return from a long, laborious day at school!

This is very exciting; firstly, it's AKIRA LIVE ACTION!!!111, second; there's an Irish director. Yay for Ireland!

As for the setting change ... meh, it's not the end of the world. It would have been awful to have the movie set in Japan and all the actors being American, speaking English in US accents. "New Manhattan" has a certain ring to it, too.

Not sure what Paul was talking about when he mentioned the "the Japanese cultural elements" of Akira--I certainly didn't notice anything that uniquely Japanese in the movie; I suspect this kind of talk is the overreaction that's to be expected from anime fans when something becomes less Japanese (I watch anime and read manga because it's good, not because it's Japanese, though - so it doesn't bother all that much).

I hope they do retain the original names, though (and I reckon they will). Leo DiCaprio and that Levitt guy have great potential in their roles too (fingers crossed it does turn out to be DiCaprio).

Yaaaaaay! ^_^
 
CitizenGeek said:
I certainly didn't notice anything that uniquely Japanese in the movie;
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I can't personally remember everything which is Japanese about it apart from the obvious things, Just that - The movie has a lot of (apparent) Japanese politics and such in the background. I don't understand any of it really, I just know there is a lot of references to the way Japan is run and things within it. I could be wrong with this though.

I forgot to mention this before - I really, really, Really, REALLY hope they don't change the effects given to the bikes, If they have to be CG - Be it. The bikes [and animation] were the only reasons I could make my way through the film the first time. It was a lot more understandable when I watched it in Japanese though. ;/
 
When it comes to Akira, I'm definitely excited about it, but my feelings are tempered by the idea of them tinkering too much with the original story. I just hope the essence of Otomo's creation isn't lost in translation\watered down to such an extent that it comes across as this vapid action\sci-fi movie that's here today and gone tomorrow.

Whenever I think of Akira, I tend to think of the landscape and climate of Neo-Tokyo, from its graffiti filled, over-populated streets to the disused, empty Olympic stadium. It has a real sense of place, so it's kind of horrifying to think that they are totally changing all that and sending it to this "New Manhatten". I can definitely see why they decided to do it, basically to avoid alienating the US audiences, and it's not too hard to imagine such a multi-cultural future anyway, but I hope it's just a change in name rather than an outright revisioning of Akira's story (e.g. after Cloverfield, I hope they aren't planning on destroying the Statue of Liberty again!).

To be fair, anything that looks half as good as Blade Runner can't be bad and the news stories I've read suggest that they are going to be sticking tight to original manga series, and the lead actors involved are very good too, I'm just hoping that given the amazing source material, they'll be able to create something as brilliant as the anime.

CitizenGeek said:
I suspect this kind of talk is the overreaction that's to be expected from anime fans when something becomes less Japanese (I watch anime and read manga because it's good, not because it's Japanese, though - so it doesn't bother all that much).
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Two words: One Piece. And I'm baffled you're apparently suggesting that something becoming less Japanese isn't a bad thing. You're an anime fan, right? There's a reason why you like 'anime' so much, and it has to do with the fact that it's from Japan; everything that seems to be unique about anime is great because it has been made in that different culture, after all, that's why you're here right now and not on Loony Toons UK News.
 
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