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With the live-action One Piece television series making waves for Netflix, the dam has seemingly burst open for many franchises to do the same. Series like One-Punch Man, Mobile Suit Gundam, Narutoand My Hero Academia are planning to release live-action projects of their own in the future but there has been an anime story that Hollywood has been chasing for quite some time. While Warner Bros had been previously working on a live-action Akira movie with director Taika Waititi, it seems that the clock has run out for WB has the rights to the futuristic dystopian tale have reverted back to the manga’s owners.
Warner Bros has spent some time attempting to create their own live-action take on Katsuhiro Otomo’s work, with several decades seemingly dedicated to the effort. Several projects have been attempted with Thor: Ragnarok and What We Do In The Shadows director Taika Waititi attached to the latest. While the WB has yet to comment directly on relinquishing the rights, the manga publisher Kodansha has once again claimed the ability to make a potential live-action movie. It seems unlikely that the Akira movie proposed at Warner Bros Discovery will be the eventual adaptation though crazier things have happened in the anime world.
The Positive Akira Update of 2025
Earlier this year, the producer attached to Warner Bros’ take on Neo-Tokyo, Andrew Lazar, had stated that there was no update on the film but had hinted at something coming down the pike. “I expect we’ll have an update in the next couple of months” Lazar had stated in an interview with Moovy TV. Whether or not he was referring to this rights transition is anyone’s guess though should Kodansha be looking to sell the live-action rights once again, we wonder if WB would look for an extension or call it quits.
Warner Bros had originally picked up the right for the film in 2002 and were initially looking for filmmaker Stephen Norrington to direct. After years of attempting to bring the anime to life, Legendary Pictures was brought on to co-finance with even actor Leonardo DiCaprio looking to produce the adaptation. Unfortunately, all these elements seemingly weren’t enough to make the dream a reality at WB, even with WB Japan making good use of their anime properties in the live-action format.
Perhaps more surprisingly than the live-action adaptation troubles was the announcement in 2019 from series creator Katsuhiro Otomo. During that year, the mangaka confirmed that he was aiming to continue Akira’s story via a new anime but no word has been revealed regarding the project since that time. Akira is now in limbo on multiple fronts but the legacy left by Neo-Tokyo remains a constant part of the anime medium to this day.
Want to see what the future holds for this potential live-action adaptation? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook.com for the latest updates on Akira and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime or hit us up in the comments.
Via THR
