Akira shut down in pre-production
Warner Bros. has halted pre-production on Akira, shutting down the Vancouver offices. The plan is to rework the existing script to get the $90 million budget scaled down to a more respectable number. Though the film has gone through an extensive series of rewrites, its believed that a new writer will be brought on to completely overhaul this overblown spectacle of a screeplay.
Akira is not a dead project. Warner Bros. is insistent that Akira become a live action film, no matter how badly fans of the original don't want it. Part of the disinterest comes from the all-Caucasian casting of what is a Japanese-set story. Garrett Hedlund has been cast in the lead as Kaneda, with the studio eyeing both Michael Pitt and Dane DeHaan to play his best friend Tetsuo. A decision on this secondary lead was to be made after the holidays, but the casting process has also been placed on indefinite hold.
Akira has been in development at Warner Bros. since 2008. Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown) is still set to direct this adaptation. While the movie will move forward at some point in the near future, there is no telling when the pre-production offices will re-open for business. Let us know if you care, or don't care, in the comment section below.
Akira comes to theaters in 2013 and stars Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Ken Watanabe. The film is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.
Comments (23)
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XxNickTheFilmCriticXx
@monkeyiron2-0 -- Check it out on IMDb, and answer my question that I wrote to you on your wall. ;P
4 months agoby @XxNickTheFilmCriticXxFlag
Monkeyiron 2.0
what this movie about again
4 months agoby @monkeyiron2-0Flag
XxNickTheFilmCriticXx
Hopefully they come to their senses and shut down the project for good. I'm sure none of us want another 'Speed Racer'.
5 months agoby @XxNickTheFilmCriticXxFlag
Dan
Just die.
5 months agoby @dan1Flag
Justhim_sir
Why can't John Woo direct? Get his pick on some of the actors, and some japanesse settings on this, damn white hollywood.
5 months agoby @justhim-sirFlag
felipe-11
@bawnian-dexeus I don't think that was the whole issue. Yes, they deviated from the source material but it was because the source material would have cost too much to make. So the case of DB they reduced the epic story to a kid in high-school, got unknown actors that they could pay very little, took out anything from the plot that would have driven their CGI budget up too much, got the cheapest director they could find even if he wasn't even familiar with the franchise (it doesn't matter as long as he doesn't ask for too much money) and BAM: they just "successfully" cut an epic $150 million production down to $30 million thinking as long as it's named "Dragonball" people will go see it and we'll make huge blockbuster hit. FAIL
And this is exactly what's gonna happen with Akira. Even if the translation from Tokyo to New York with american actors wasn't cool, at least it seemed liked they were still sorta in touch with the source material. $90 million would've been enough to destroy New York on an epic scale just like Akira. But now they'll probably want to keep this under $40 million, so the destruction will be reduced, sets will be reduced, CGI will be reduced and they'll have to deviate from the source material in order to do it. Like I said, cheap movies feel cheap.
5 months agoby @felipe-11Flag
Bawnian©-Dexeus
@felipe-11 The problem with those two was the source material. Neither were following the actual story
5 months agoby @bawnian-dexeusFlag
felipe-11
The typical reason of why Hollywood sucks more each day. They'll try to make this with the least amount of money possible and try to make an unreasonably high profit with it. I know it's standard business sense, but it can't be done with movies; you need a big budget if you want to make a big movie. Cheap movies will always feel cheap.
Fox already tried this with Dragonball and Street Fighter, cutting budgets to two of the world's most known franchises to less than 30 million, hoping they can make a good 300mill worldwide and then laying out a bit more for sequels.
What they need to do is stay true to source material when it's already good and take risks. Nothing awesome ever came out of playing it safe.
5 months agoby @felipe-11Flag
William BooRat J. Blackshire
God I hope that this kills this horrible movie! If some one's going to make this Live Action it should be some one who has read the damn books!
5 months agoby @William-BooRat-J-BlackshireFlag
darksektor1971
90 million high?...damn...why even bother in bring it to the big screen if you're not cappable of invest the amount of money AKIRA deserves????....and +1 to those who thinks this this movie will suck if it is not treated with RESPECT!
5 months agoby @darksektor1971Flag
gandoff2169
This movie will suck with such a small budget. Needs a lot of special effects like Star Wars or more to say, Blade Runner.
5 months agoby @gandoff2169Flag
Let's Go Bub!
Best news I heard all day.
5 months agoby @Number1WolverineFlag
Josh
I don't care. I would much rather see The Dark Tower get made than this.
5 months agoby @shuabertFlag
MovieWiz001
And can it be MUCH MORE like the manga when you return?
5 months agoby @moviewiz001Flag
Vincente 'Avengers' Alonso
Read the article. "Akira is not a dead project. Warner Bros. is insistent that Akira become a live action film, no matter how badly fans of the original don't want it." The project isn't shut down for good, it's just to ring in the budget a bit.
5 months agoby @vincente-avengers-alonsoFlag
ejk1
White-washed cast and probably numerous deviations from the source material. I'm glad this was shut down.
5 months agoby @ejk1Flag
Jay.A.Ottley
OOOOOO YEAH sh*t got shut down like a BOSS
5 months agoby @jayaottleyFlag
Barkx
If it was going to be a faithful adaptation, I'd be it's biggest supporter! The original anime was just fantastic! But from what was being reported...
5 months agoby @barkxFlag
LuxoIII
That's probably a good thing.
5 months agoby @brady1138Flag
thedude-abides
Good news
5 months agoby @thedude-abidesFlag
CUPID
F*ck this movie.
5 months agoby @cupidFlag
Bawnian©-Dexeus
$90 million? High?
5 months agoby @bawnian-dexeusFlag
SpaceCowboy
I don't think anyone who loved the original was looking forward to this remake anyway.
5 months agoby @SpaceCowboyFlag