Warner Bros' Akira, Round Who Is This For Again?

Good Lord, how long have I been away?

Seriously, there's dust everywhere.

Anyway, jokes aside, yes, it's been a while. I have a couple of projects coming down line, including trying something for October.


Also look for: final articles from my Gundam movies retrospective and the 'Sometimes They Come Back' Halloween run of 2015 (because otherwise that means I watched Nekromantik 2 and The Lost Boys: The Tribe for nothing. Try and guess which I regret more – you may be pleasantly surprised).
Anyway, that's for down the line. For today, I wish to discuss something that has remained about the same as it was when I last turned off the lights here.
That's right – Warner Bros is still trying to get that live action Akira adaptation off the ground.

By this point, there's something almost sadly admirable about the determination this studio has towards making this particular project happen. Reading the timeline for this is fascinating from a film fan's perspective, and not exactly encouraging from the view of a WB executive.

Concept art from the 2008 attempt by Ruairi Robinson
art by James Clyne

WB first acquired these rights back in 2002. They have been trying to make this thing happen for fifteen years now. In that time, the project has accrued a long list of potential directors (What We Do In the Shadows' Taika Waititi is the latest prospective suitor in line) and, as of last reports, still hasn't fully locked a script yet. The last thing close to a completed script that has surfaced was a draft leaked in 2011 that was...I suppose 'utterly raked over the coals' would be one way to put it. Save for some concept art from a few attempts, each new version seems to get mired and break down without much to show for it.

All this and I still haven't even gotten to this project's big overarcing claim to 'fame' – the casting controversy. Even when this movie couldn't seemingly nail down a consistent director, word began to circulate about names being considered for the movie's cast. True to the track record of adaptations of Japanese titles, it was a snowstorm. The backlash in this particular case got to be prominent enough that it even got a signal boost from actor/activist George Takei.

Which brings us to now – whereas of this point, Waititi is being approached since previous maybe Jordan Peele, fresh on the heels of the success of Get Out, was offered and subsequently declined. Besides possibly Waititi, the last word of any sort about anyone attached to this project in any capacity other than the next maybe director was a script being worked on by Dante Harper back in 2014.

From the Hughes Brothers' 2010 attempt
Storyboards by Chris Weston

So to review – Warner Bros has been shopping this thing around for a decade and a half, they seem unable to lock down a director, there's no word of how a script is progressing, the last concept art from any known director is now almost ten years old, and there is no other indication of anything resembling forward momentum. In fact, one of the other earlier directors considered was reported to have bowed out in part because of the lack of progress, which should tell you something.

This is the point where I have to wonder how much Warner Bros paid for these rights. Because for the time this has taken, I wonder why they haven't just called it a wash yet.


If this were something people had been champing at the bit for, I could understand their dogged determination to see this through. But that's the kicker – as far as I can tell, no one really seems to be that eager to see this happen. As acclaimed as the anime and manga are, most fans aren't interested in what WB is trying to sell here – especially after the casting rumors and the script leak offering a possible taste of what could be down the line: A story taking place in “Neo-Manhattan” with a white cast- A far cry from the Japanese setting and characters of the source.

To anyone not familiar with the title, meanwhile, their first time hearing anything about this was likely when Takei addressed the casting controversy. In light of Takei's prominence as an advocate and generally popular celebrity, having him come down on your movie for whitewashed casting is NOT a good look for prospective new fans.

Concept for one of the ESPers from Jaume Collet-Serra's attempt in 2011

To say nothing for the fact the fifteen years since those rights were bought up have seen a landscape littered with the smoldering remains of various live action anime/manga adaptations – none of which could really be argued to be particularly successful; quite the opposite, really. The term 'live action anime' these days evokes more images of flops like Dragonball: Evolution and this year's one-two punch of the box office bomb Ghost in the Shell (this is particularly one WB would want to note, since a live action Akira similarly will not be cheap to make) and Netflix's lambasted Death Note movie. Even the Wachowski's Speed Racer, one of the movies generally argued to have done the best job of replicating its source material, didn't live up to its box office expectations and was considered a failure at the time. All this and a graveyard of even more projects that simply never took off.


Again, I come back to my first question – who is this adaptation really for? Fans of the property have repeatedly expressed their disinterest in the project. What press it has managed to garner has been far from encouraging, with the best of its news being the latest director to be approached/signed/bow out depending where in the timeline. Is this a passion project for someone at the studio? An iron clad contractual obligation? Or is this simply a case of spending enough money on the rights that someone (or someones) at the studio stubbornly refuses to let it die and concede they bought the rights for nothing?

I'm really not sure at this point. Because save for the studios, it really doesn't feel like anyone else wants the movie at this point. Otomo himself meanwhile has said there were talks about the possibility of it becoming a TV series.

Meanwhile, Harry Partridge's animated parody of an
American Akira has been completed, released, and frequently
cited as a great punchline for American adaptations for years now.

Just something to consider, Warner Bros. It’s worked for Americans Gods and Game of Thrones. And hey, maybe it'll be a good opportunity to crack into the entire second half of the original manga and let people who only know the movie see what they've been missing out on.

Think about it.