Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown, Orphan, House of Wax) is back in talks to return to the director’s seat on the live-action remake of the classic 1988 Japanese animated cyberpunk action film ‘Akira‘. In 2008 Warner Brothers acquired the rights to the film and since then the production has seen a a number of writers, directors, producers and actors attached to the film.
Things did seem to be going well in 2011 until production stalled in 2012 seemingly due to issues with the script and budget of the film production.
With some hope, after Collet-Serra completes his current filming project, a crime pic “Run All Night” with Liam Neeson, Joel Kinnaman and Ed Harris, he will be available to pick up the threads of Akira sometime in the spring of 2014.
Thus far the live adaption appears to follow the same relative plot as the anime-movie. Set in a New Manhattan, it follows the leader of a biker gang who needs to save his best-friend that has possibly destructive psychokinetic abilities from government medical experiments. According to a recent script in May 2013 New Manhattan is owned by the Japanese.
Currently, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran are producing the film and Katsuhiro Otomo, who wrote and directed the original 1988 Japanese anime is the executive producer.
It looks like it may be some time coming, but Akira could be a possibility for the future.
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