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After more than 20 years, a dozen creative employees and millions of US dollars in development costs, Warner Bros. finally separates from the film rights to the Japanese sci-fi classic “Akira”. We summarize below.
Announcement over two decades ago
In the 1980s, the post-apocalyptic cyberpunk story “Akira” caused a sensation. Both the manga of Katsuhiro Otomo and the 1988 anime adaptation based on it became international. So it was not surprising that the US film studios were also interested in the title.
In 2002 the time had come: the large film and TV production company Warner Bros. secured the rights for a real film. But what happened afterwards developed into one of the most turbulent chapters in Hollywood story.
Initially, Jon Peters (“Batman”) should implement the project as a director as a producer and Stephen Norrington (“Blade”). But Norrington was unable to convince, especially since his film flopped his film “The League of Exceptional Gentlemen”.
Huge personnel wear
In the following decades, a considerable million amount is said to have been invested in production, which ultimately also brought the Legendary Entertainment production company on board as a co -financier.
Later, the anime fan Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson (“Orphan”) joined as producers-and held on to the project until the end.
Numerous authors and directors were temporarily involved, including Garry Whitta (“Rogue One-A Star Wars Story”), Mark Fergus (“Iron Man”), Hawk Otsby (“Children of Men”), Steve Kloves (“Harry Potter”), Allen and Albert Hughes (“Menace II Society”) and Jaume Collet-Serra Wax «), but none of them have remained.
In addition, the concept drawings and storyboards made over the years, including Tommy Lee Edwards (“Batman Begins”) and Chris Weston (“The Book of Eli”), ended up unused again in the archives.
The planned real film initially had a budget of $ 90 million, and Garrett Hedlund (“Tron: Legacy”) was already intended as the main actor. Kristen Stewart (“Twilight”), Helena Bonham-Carter (“Harry Potter”) and Ken Watanabe (“Inception”) were also in far advanced negotiations.
However, the project was repeatedly faced with allegations, financial difficulties and cultural controversy over time-for example, Neo-Tokyo was to be converted into Neu-Manhattan.
The last director associated with the film was Taika Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok”). But he also did not succeed in realizing the adaptation, since he was already busy with numerous other projects.
