(5).jpg) By Johnny Firecloud | I'm not sure how to feel about this, but anime classic and cult smash Akira looks like it's getting the remake treatment. It's headed to the big screen in not just one but two live-action films, with the first scheduled for a summer 2009 release. |
After letting go of rights to the films a few years ago and then waging a bidding war to get them back, Warner Brothers has re-acquired the rights and is putting the first film into production right away. Irish filmmaker Ruairi Robinson (The Silent City) will direct, working from a screenplay penned by Gary Whitta. Leo DiCaprio will be producing.
The studio is describing the film as "Blade Runner meets City of God", which is a tall order to fill by any standard. Each movie will be based on three of the six volumes from Katsuhiro Otomo's 1982 graphic novel that was later adapted into an anime movie in 1988. Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira takes place in a much larger timeframe than the film, and contains a far greater array of characters and subplots.
The original 1988 Akira film was set in 2019 in a post-nuclear, flourescent-lit Tokyo. Kaneda, a bike gang leader, must save his close friend Tetsuo, who gets involved in a secret government project known as Akira. On his journey, Kaneda has harrowing experiences with anti-government activists, greedy politicians, reckless scientists and a powerful military leader. Meanwhile, the Akira project unleashes Tetsuo's supernatural powers, leading to massively brutal deaths and a final battle in Tokyo's Olympiad, where the secrets to Akira were buried 30 years ago.
Early reports are saying that the updated version will take place in "New Manhattan," a metropolis that was rebuilt after being destroyed 31 years earlier. New Manhattan instead of Tokyo…an Americanized, contemporary Akira. Blech. We're already veering dangerously close to tie-in marketing deals with Burger King.Through his work, Otomo explores recurring themes of social isolation, corruption and power. To intentionally lose that essence for market appeal would be philosophical suicide and an utter injustice to everything Akira has stood for to so many people.
However, this could make for an awesome live-action movie, given today's technology. Imagine the special effects in the motorcycle chases alone! But my gut tells me the studios may sell the concept short, and the budget won't be enough to do the name justice. Let's just hope I'm wrong.
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