Hollywood and Warner Bros.’ years-long attempt to make a live-action Akira movie has once again hit a snag.
Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok) is the latest director to tackle the adaptation of the popular 1988 anime and the Atlanta-based production seems to have been shutdown, according to entertainment journalist and former Variety reporter Kris Tapley. Here’s what Tapley tweeted:
OK so a little more: Apparently they were eight weeks out from shooting and nothing built. Budget problems and script issues. They may get it back on track after a few weeks, but right now, it's shutting down.
— Kris Tapley (@kristapley) June 29, 2019
Variety‘s Justin Knoll, however, tweeted that the studio still plans to screen test actors for the film after the Fourth of July holiday. So while the movie is shut down for now, the powers-at-be are still conducting business as usual under the assumption that production will resume again.
Akira‘s tenure in Development Hell is a well-documented one. Directors ranging from Blade‘s Stephen Norrington to the Hughes brothers (From Hell) and Jordan Peele back in 2017 have tried to bring the post-apocalyptic cyberpunk tale to life for decades. In 2012, The Shallows director Jaume Collet-Serra was on the project when his version of it was shut down. Actors like Leonardo DiCaprio also circled the movie too; Waititi’s take will reportedly feature the appropriate Asian cast to match the source material.
It seems whoever touches this material ends up furthering the feeling that the project is cursed. Here’s hoping the studio and the filmmakers can finally pull this version off.
