[Werthead]

This is happening.

Waititi has agreed to direct Warner Brothers' long-gestating AKIRA project. Waititi's plan is to go back to the graphic novel series, meaning this will likely only be the first part of the story (the 1988 anime compressed over 2,500 pages into two hours, which didn't really work well).

Most encouragingly, Waititi has apparently reversed the previous script's decision to move the action in the United States. He wants to return to a Japanese setting with Asian actors. It's unclear if Warners has agreed to that, but Waititi is a proper AKIRA fanboy (his mother took him to see it in the cinema in 1988) and his current movie credit (after the huge success of THOR: RAGNAROK and the WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS TV show) is sky-high, so he may have leveraged that. Negotiations have been going on for months, with Marvel also courting Waititi for a THOR sequel, so Waititi had a lot of power in these negotiations.

The film is now set for release on 21 May 2021.

[Tiste Simeon]

I mean, Akira is a bit whatever for me but I'm willing to watch anything Waititi does. He truly is majestical.

[D'rek]

Werthead, on 24 May 2019 - 08:47 PM, said:

Waititi's plan is to go back to the graphic novel series, meaning this will likely only be the first part of the story (the 1988 anime compressed over 2,500 pages into two hours, which didn't really work well).

Whaaaaaaat, yes it did! It worked fine! It was different from the manga, but it worked just fine.

I'm actually rather dubious on this working as a series of films. It's not like marvel where its mostly standalone stories, this would be one big story without a great endings and explanations for individual movies until the end if it follows the manga exactly. I guess that's what IT has been doing, too, but I dunno how much western audience buy-in there would be for that with a 1980s manga that may not be as well known nowadays.

[Aptorian]

TETSUUUOOOOOO!!!

[QuickTidal]

D, on 25 May 2019 - 02:48 AM, said:

Werthead, on 24 May 2019 - 08:47 PM, said:

Waititi's plan is to go back to the graphic novel series, meaning this will likely only be the first part of the story (the 1988 anime compressed over 2,500 pages into two hours, which didn't really work well).

Whaaaaaaat, yes it did! It worked fine! It was different from the manga, but it worked just fine.

I’m glad you said something Drek, I had the same thought as you. The anime and the Manga are both well liked, and the anime even turfed some of the more tedious bits of the Manga and made it pacier.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 26 May 2019 - 11:07 AM

[Tsundoku]

Aptorian, on 25 May 2019 - 04:10 AM, said:

TETSUUUOOOOOO!!!

KANEDAAAAAAAAAAA!!! HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! YAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! *fleshy explosions*

[Slow Ben]

Tiste Simeon, on 24 May 2019 - 10:05 PM, said:

I mean, Akira is a bit whatever for me but I'm willing to watch anything Waititi does. He truly is majestical.

Yeah, I dont even know what Akira is, but if Waititi's doing it, I'm 100% in.

This post has been edited by Slow Ben: 26 May 2019 - 02:03 PM

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 26 May 2019 - 10:27 AM, said:

D, on 25 May 2019 - 02:48 AM, said:

Werthead, on 24 May 2019 - 08:47 PM, said:

Waititi's plan is to go back to the graphic novel series, meaning this will likely only be the first part of the story (the 1988 anime compressed over 2,500 pages into two hours, which didn't really work well).

Whaaaaaaat, yes it did! It worked fine! It was different from the manga, but it worked just fine.

I’m glad you said something Drek, I had the same thought as you. The anime and the Manga are both well liked, and the anime even turfed some of the more tedious bits of the Manga and made it pacier.

I found the film just ok. Great visuals, great action, large chunks of the story are too deliberately vague. It was fun to watch, but left me feeling like I had just watched the middle part of a trilogy with no hope of ever seeing the beginning or end.

[Coco with marshmallows]

Sounds interesting and all, but May 2021 release date does NOT leave a lot of time for casting, location scouting, shooting, scripting and post production

(that is if Taika is successful in getting it moved to Tokyo)

[neo era]

awesome. one of my favorite animes (saw it when I was a wee lad). the first anime I ever saw.

[Werthead]

As well as the live-action movie for 2021, the original film is getting a 4K remaster for release next April. More excitingly, there is also going to be a brand-new TV anime which will faithfully adapt the manga to the screen. Sunrise is working with the original writer on the new show.

[D'rek]

Werthead, on 07 July 2019 - 04:32 PM, said:

More excitingly, there is also going to be a brand-new TV anime which will faithfully adapt the manga to the screen. Sunrise is working with the original writer on the new show.

They said they'd *like* to adapt the whole of the original manga, but that is far from officially confirmed. Actually adapting the entire manga would be a very long endeavour, and it wouldn't be unlike Sunrise to say something like that now but then lower the bar when the time comes (Code Geass:Resurrection was similarly talked about as if it would be a full series, only to later be released as two recap movies and a new limited-release film). And it's not like other classic/famous older anime revived in recent years have gotten the best treatment (Devilman was a very condensed 10 episodes, and Berserk might be longer but no one in their right mind would call it good). We should probably keep our expectations in check until there's a lot more reliable information.

[Werthead]

Well, that got real, fast.

Apparently Waititi had script concerns over AKIRA, despite Warner Brothers agreeing to completely revamp the film according to his design. So the movie was back in Neo-Tokyo and Warners had agreed to let Waititi cast the film with Japanese actors. However, the script wasn't ready for the pre-production period which would have had to have begun imminently to hit the May 2021 release date.

As a result, Waititi has instead committed to THOR 4 after Marvel put a huge offer in front of him. He's taken the gamble that Warners won't make AKIRA with another director - because in thirty years they've never found another director willing to really tackle it - and will wait for him. Apparently, although Warners were a bit narked by the news he'd gone back to Marvel, they still want him to direct so are putting AKIRA on hold and will reassess with Waititi once THOR is done.

My guess is that Waititi will work on the script in the meantime.

The release schedule for THOR 4 is likely to become clearer at the Comic-Con Marvel panel this weekend, where the Phase 4 release schedule should be confirmed. That will also let us know when AKIRA is likely to get back on track.