The 2nd Dimension

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Akira live-action movies set for summer 2009

That's right! "Movies" plural. And with a target summer 2009 release date. It looks like they are going to be based more on the actual manga than the anime movie, which is a wise choice since the manga is a lot easier to understand.

From the article:

Leonardo DiCaprio and Warner Bros. are set to team up for a series of live-action motion pictures based on anime artist, Katsuhiro Otomo's masterpiece, Akira . According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gary Whitta has been hired to write the adaptation, which DiCaprio will produce through his Appian Way production company. The films are being fast tracked for release in summer 2009. Each feature will be comprised of three of the books in Otomo's series.

Akira set in a neon-lit futuristic post-nuclear war Tokyo in 2019 where a teen biker gang member is subjected to a government experiment which unleashes his latent powers. The gang's leader must find a way to stop the ensuing swathe of destruction. The anime classic originated in 1988 as manga and then was made into an animated film by Katsuhiro Otoma, which is considered by many fans of Japanese animation to be among the finest works in the genre.

Warner Bros has the rights to Akira up until several years ago when they allowed the rights to lapse. They regained them after a spirited bidding war. Warner's executives are describing the double-bill as Blade Runner meets City Of God.

Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way has not yet announced when production for Akira is scheduled to begin.

Source: Super Hero Flix

3 comments:

The Question said...

Is this really the openign for Densha Otaku?
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=uJHRtklMRwc&NR=1
becasue thats awesome, and i cant stop listenign to the song since i watched this,
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=p1gPMXeXWIc&feature=related
Ill start updating my blog regularly soon.

J

Bob said...

Yeah.. It’s a homage to Daicon IV (which uses the same music) [link].. I had a link to a youtube video that compared the Densha’s OP and Daicon IV on my review of the TV show [link] way back when, but that link appears to be broken now. I was able to find a MySpace TV version [link], but it’s a bit choppy.

Bob said...

Oh yeah. Forgot to also mention that Gonzo made a full TV series based on Densha's opening called "Getsumen To Heiki Mina" [link]. Although I have no idea what the title means other than that "Mina" is the bunny-girl's name.