Warner Bros. has been trying to make a live-action “Akira” for over two decades now. Since acquiring the rights in 2002, the studio has cycled through various directors — from Stephen Norrington and Albert Hughes to Jaume Collet-Serra, and even had talks with Jordan Peele and Justin Lin.
The latest and most serious attempt came from Taika Waititi, who was announced as director in 2017. But as with all things “Akira,” it has now fizzled into dust, stalled out by scheduling conflicts, creative disagreements, and an overall sense that no one in Hollywood knows what to do with this material.
According to THR, Warner Bros. has officially let go of the movie rights for the 1988 Japanese sci-fi classic. In consequence, Waititi is no longer attached.
The rights have officially reverted to Kodansha, the Japanese publisher behind Katsuhiro Otomo’s manga. With the property back in their hands, there’s already various producers and filmmakers hoping to be part of whatever pitch eventually gets taken to major studios and streamers.
Waititi was supposed to start shooting “Akira” in 2019 with a $150M budget and a script that reportedly tried to stay faithful to the manga rather than the 1988 anime. But then “Thor: Love and Thunder” happened. Warner Bros. put “Akira” on hold to let Waititi do his Marvel thing, and by the time that bloated dud came and went, momentum had flatlined.
At one point, the setting was bizarrely shifted from Neo-Tokyo to “New Manhattan,” a move that perfectly encapsulated the studio’s disconnect from the material.
Part of the problem is that “Akira” is just too weird, too complex, and too culturally specific for the American studio system to wrap its head around. Every time a new version gets announced, it’s paired with bizarre casting rumors (Garrett Hedlund? Kristen Stewart?) and creative pitches that try to transplant Neo-Tokyo into “New Manhattan.” You can’t Americanize “Akira” without neutering it.
And so it remains stuck, maybe permanently. There’s no confirmed director, no cast, no new timeline, and no clear reason to keep pushing. It’s not happening anytime soon, and maybe that’s a blessing. Some things are better left untouched.
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.