A proposed live-action remake of the animated cyberpunk classic “Akira” has been rumored for more than ten years now. It’s the kind of project that has jumped from director to director.
The latest filmmaker to take a crack at it is Taika Waititi, who would be directing it based on a script he co-wrote with Michael Golamco.
Delays have occurred ever since Waititi joined the project in 2017, not the least which because he was also developing a Star Wars film, which has now, supposedly, been put in the backburner.
Variety’s Justin Kroll is reporting, via his Twitter, that Waititi’s film is closer to being realized than we were led to believe.
If I were a betting man my guess is Taika’s next movie is his AKIRA movie at WB, which he put on shelf to do [Thor]L&T. He never left the film and word is script should be into studio soon. Again nothing set in stone as the film would go through regular process before greenlight including figuring out a budget but sounds like all his focus is on that project
In September 2017, it was announced that Waititi was in talks to direct “Akira” with an all Asian-American teenager cast set to play the leads. Waititi wanted to avoid all problematic whitewashing debates that might arise.
Filming was scheduled to take place in July 2019. Then “Thor: Love and Thunder” happened and Waititi dropped out of “Akira.” Suddenly, in August 2021, Waititi confirmed that he still intended to make the film.
A month ago, Waititi again reiterated the fact that he wanted to make his “Star Wars” film before “Akira,” but now that LucasFilm hasn’t prioritized his SW film, it seems as though Waititi’s next project will indeed be “Akira.”
Kroll’s intel is hinting at development speeding up on this project. Now, will Warner Bros boss David Zaslav officially greenlight it?