It looks like Warner Bros.’ long-developing adaptation of the graphic novelAkirais heating back up, this time with an extremely buzzworthy director. Deadline reports thatThor: RagnarokdirectorTaika Waititiis now in talks to take the helm of theAkiraremake, which takes place in a rebuilt New Manhattan and revolves around the leader of a biker gang.
The studio has been developing this project for alongtime, withRuairi Robinsonoriginally attached to take the helm, followed by theHughes BrotherswithHarry PotterscribeSteve Klovesworking on the screenplay. The Hughes Brothers departed, thenJaume Collet-Serra(The Shallows) became attached in 2011 and stuck with the project for the longest. His version actually came really close to fruition, withGarrett HedlundandKristen Stewartin lead roles andGary OldmanandHelena Bonham Cartereyed to join the ensemble. However, in January 2012 Warner Bros. put a halt on production and demanded more script development before moving forward into filming.
Collet-Serra eventually exited the project for good, and most recently we heard that Warner Bros. was courtingJordan Peeleto makeAkirahis bigGet Outfollow-up.Peele declined, however, opting instead to make another smaller scale original film for Blumhouse.
Waititi is an interesting choice here. He’s worked his way up to studio blockbusters having first broken out with the mockumentaryWhat We Do in the Shadowsand then showing he could handle a more sizable budget withHunt for the Wilderpeople. All seems to have gone well onThor: Ragnarok, and it’s curious to see that he’s interested in going to Warner Bros. to work on a very different kind of blockbuster.
Akirastill may be a ways off as Waititi is next set to direct Fox Searchlight’s World War II dramedyJojo Rabbit, which starts filming in the spring. He’s also co-directing the stop-motion animatedMichael JacksonmovieBubbles.
It’ll also be interesting to see what script Warner Bros. is working with here. In 2012,Toby Kebbellcriticized the then-scriptfor theAkiraremake, which he said was more a remake of the animated movie than a straight adaptation of the comics. That script also reconceived Tetsuo and Kaneda as brothers.
The plan is still to adapt all six comics in two feature films, so it’s unclear if Waititi would direct both or if he’d just do one. This is all still very early days and this project has a history of, well, not happening, so proceed with caution.
