I started getting into anime in high school. It started with
Dragon Ball, which aired Saturday mornings at around 7:30 AM and featured the young, tail-equipped Goku. Moving onto movies, I started with some of the classics:
Fist of the North Star, Ninja Scroll and, of course,
Akira.
Now,
Akira has gained a reputation for being one of the most influential animes of all time (based on the manga in 1982). I'd also venture that it's one of the most f'ed up animes of all time, but that's a debate for another day. Needless to say, the movie has garnered quite a following, despite it being a tad over 20 years old. For whatever reason, Warner Bros. have decided that it's in the best interest of the property to make it a live-action movie and, according to
Vulture have tapped the Hughes brothers to direct.
The Hughes brothers are fresh off of directing the Book of Eli, and the live-action Akira film will work from a script by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (of Iron Man fame). It's being produced by Leonardo DiCaprio's company, Appian Way, and Andrew Lazar (who's busying ogling Megan Fox in Victorian attire while producing Jonah Hex).
Now fans of the manga or anime know that this isn't a Disney movie we're talking here. It's one of the deepest, most complex pieces of media ever created. With that in mind, WB plan on making the film in two parts, with the first three volumes of the six-volume manga making up the first film, due out next year. I have no idea in hell how this movie will actually work, let alone work next year. I'm not too keen on the whole "multiple movies for one movie" idea, but with something like this you can't really fit it all in and have a respectable running time. Even with two movies I'd wager that each one is at least 2 1/2 hours.
My bigger question is how in the world does this translate into live-action. Akira is gritty (and that's a severe understatement) and I don't see how this film gets anything less than an NC-17, which won't happen because even an R rating will limit their profits. The anime featurs buckets of blood and gore, attempted rape and creative death sequences that you can't really cut without ruining the entire message of the work. I haven't seen the Book of Eli so I'm not really sure how the Hughes brother will do. I just hope they realize what they're getting into with this.
I started getting into anime in high school. It started with Dragon Ball, which aired Saturday mornings at around 7:30 AM and featured the young, tail-equipped Goku. Moving onto movies, I started with some of the classics: Fist of the North Star, Ninja Scroll and, of course, Akira.
Now, Akira has gained a reputation for being one of the most influential animes of all time (based on the manga in 1982). I'd also venture that it's one of the most f'ed up animes of all time, but that's a debate for another day. Needless to say, the movie has garnered quite a following, despite it being a tad over 20 years old. For whatever reason, Warner Bros. have decided that it's in the best interest of the property to make it a live-action movie and, according to Vulture have tapped the Hughes brothers to direct.
The Hughes brothers are fresh off of directing the Book of Eli, and the live-action Akira film will work from a script by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (of Iron Man fame). It's being produced by Leonardo DiCaprio's company, Appian Way, and Andrew Lazar (who's busying ogling Megan Fox in Victorian attire while producing Jonah Hex).
Now fans of the manga or anime know that this isn't a Disney movie we're talking here. It's one of the deepest, most complex pieces of media ever created. With that in mind, WB plan on making the film in two parts, with the first three volumes of the six-volume manga making up the first film, due out next year. I have no idea in hell how this movie will actually work, let alone work next year. I'm not too keen on the whole "multiple movies for one movie" idea, but with something like this you can't really fit it all in and have a respectable running time. Even with two movies I'd wager that each one is at least 2 1/2 hours.
My bigger question is how in the world does this translate into live-action. Akira is gritty (and that's a severe understatement) and I don't see how this film gets anything less than an NC-17, which won't happen because even an R rating will limit their profits. The anime featurs buckets of blood and gore, attempted rape and creative death sequences that you can't really cut without ruining the entire message of the work. I haven't seen the Book of Eli so I'm not really sure how the Hughes brother will do. I just hope they realize what they're getting into with this.
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