Call me ignorant, but I don’t know much about the popular manga “Naruto,” save for the viral meme derived from it. It turns out that it’s one of the best-selling manga series of all time, having sold over 250 million copies worldwide across 47 countries.
With that said, “Naruto” fans, rejoice! It’s being adapted into a feature-length movie, which has been in development since 2015. It’s now a go, with filming set to begin early next year. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and “Shang-Chi” filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton will write and direct.
We now have our first major casting news for “Naruto,” via THR. Charles Melton (“May December”) is in final negotiations to play Kakashi in the live-action movie, which is being set up at Lionsgate.
Written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto, the manga tells the story of Naruto, a young boy who seeks recognition and dreams of becoming the greatest ninja. His attempts to come into his own are complicated by the fact that he unknowingly serves as the host of a dangerous beast that grants him enormous power but makes him a target for rival ninja clans.
Can a single film properly adapt “Naruto”? The general sentiment from fans is that the material is better suited to a TV series. There’s also concern over another disastrous Hollywood anime adaptation, with “Dragonball Evolution” repeatedly cited as an example. “One Piece” is frequently mentioned as proof that live-action anime can work, though its success may have largely been due to taking a television approach to such a massive story.
Cretton has a sequel to “Shang-Chi” in development. If you remember, he had dropped out of directing “Avengers: Kang Dynasty” and, as life sometimes would have it, was hired to direct a little movie called “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” which has completely changed his career trajectory.
Cretton is a Sundance alum, his debut “I Am Not A Hipster” premiered in Park City. His 2013 sophomore indie effort, “Short Term 12,” earned strong acclaim, appearing on hundreds of critics’ top-10 lists, and ended up introducing a ridiculous amount of new talent to the world, including Brie Larson, Kaitlyn Dever, Rami Malek, and Lakeith Stansfield.
However, after two straight underwhelming originals —“The Glass Castle” (2017) and “Just Mercy” (2019) — Cretton was snatched up by Marvel, as they usually tend to do with filmmakers in vulnerable career positions, and he is now firmly an in-house filmmaker for the comic-book movie machine. “Naruto” will let him work outside that bubble, but after that, ‘Chang-Chi 2’ and ‘Spider-Man 5’ await.
The man doesn't stop. James Gunn has confirmed he's already hard at work writing his next film, even as ‘Man of Tomorrow’ makes its way toward theaters next summer.