Warner Bros. Working On Live Action Bleach Adaptation

[vansau]

Warner Bros. Working On Live Action Bleach Adaptation

Not content with adapting Akira to the big screen, Warner Bros. has announced that it's now turning Bleach into a live-action film.

Warner Bros. really seems to have been bitten by the anime bug lately. The film company's still working on its oft-maligned adaptation of Akira, and now it's revealed that it's acquired the rights to take popular manga-turned anime Bleach and turn it into a live-action film.

Bleach, if you're unfamiliar with it, is about a teenager named Ichigo who can see ghosts. After a Hollow (an evil "lost soul") attacks Ichigo's family, he gains the power to hunt the spirits and works to protect the living and "[help] tortured souls find peace."

According to Variety:

Warner Bros. has acquired live-action feature rights to Tite Kubo's manga and anime property Bleach, which will be adapted by Wrath of the Titans scribe Dan Mazeau.
Peter Segal (Get Smart) will produce with an eye toward possibly directing.

...

Segal's Callahan Filmworks partner Michael Ewing will also produce along with Masi Oka and Viz Prods., a subsidiary of Viz Media, the English-language publisher of Bleach, Jason Hoffs will produce for Viz, while Branon Coluccio will exec produce. WB exec Jon Berg will oversee the project for the studio.

Oka, who co-starred in Segal's Get Smart, brought the project to Callahan Filmworks.

Call me crazy, but taking an IP like Bleach and giving it to the guy who wrote Clash of the Titans and directed Get Smart doesn't really seem like the best match. When you combine this with how Warner Bros. has handled Akira's adaptation (going from two movies to one, repeatedly cutting the budget, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115098-Live-Action-Akira-Shuts-Down>shutting down production, and <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115138-Akira-Might-Get-Re-Written-By-Dark-Knight-Scribe>forcing rewrites), Bleach fans are probably right to be worried about this project.

Source: <a href=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118050608>Variety via <a href=http://www.toplessrobot.com/2012/02/warner_bros_wont_stop_buying_anime_to_make_horribl.php>Topless Robot

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[KeyMaster45]

Haven't the Japanese already done live action adaptations of this, and didn't they all suck ass?

 

[DTWolfwood]

It can't possibly be worst than the Dragonballs Live action movie can it?

...yeah nothing can be worst than that...

 

[ckam]

...Yeah, this isn't going to work. Well, how about making the fans feel a little better by hiring Asian actors, Warner? They probably won't though.

 

[Mister K]

Look at the bright side: We will have something to complain about.

 

[Slycne]

...Yeah, this isn't going to work. Well, how about making the fans feel a little better by hiring Asian actors, Warner? They probably won't though.

Eh, for Bleach that might actually be acceptable though. Some of the characters are specifically not of Asian descent, and let's be honest several are not fooling anyone even if they are supposed to be Japanese.

 

[zombie711]

I think Hollywood just cant make a good Japanese manga movie. You wouldnt expect Japan to make a good Watchmen or Spiderman, or Batman movie.

 

[FaerWen]

I don't really see how they can handle presenting the absurdly large weapons and over the top fight scenes present in any anime in a live action setting. It would throw anyone who isn't an anime fan off, and make anime fans cringe.

 

[Paragon Fury]

...Yeah, this isn't going to work. Well, how about making the fans feel a little better by hiring Asian actors, Warner? They probably won't though.

Eh, for Bleach that might actually be acceptable though. Some of the characters are specifically not of Asian descent, and let's be honest several are not fooling anyone even if they are supposed to be Japanese.

Christina Hendricks for Matsumoto! Christina Hendricks for Matsumoto!

 

[gigastar]

...Yeah, this isn't going to work. Well, how about making the fans feel a little better by hiring Asian actors, Warner? They probably won't though.

Eh, for Bleach that might actually be acceptable though. Some of the characters are specifically not of Asian descent, and let's be honest several are not fooling anyone even if they are supposed to be Japanese.

I can think of one huge [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BigBraToFill] problem the fans are going to have with it right out of the gate.

Another problem would be getting this to register with the masses. Time will tell on that one.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

It will either not see the light of day, suck so much ass that we forget about it as fast as the Live Action Dragonball movie or it will be the definitive film that gets Americas attention about Anime. Not calling for middle ground here, but I'm putting the "Never seen" as the most likely, considering how Akira went.

Calumon: ...I'll never get a movie... : (

 

[Scarim Coral]

If they had announce this a few years ago I would be against it but these days I couldn't care less due to how downhill it went after they had recuse Rukia.
By all means I'm rooting for you lots against it but I will be doing nothing. Either way if it does get made, I won't be watching it.

 

[Bluecho]

Sorry, but if I want to see live action Bleach, I'll stick with the Bleach Rock Opera, thank you very much.

http://bleach.wikia.com/wiki/Rock_Musical_Bleach

 

[Gottesstrafe]

Alright guys, time to play: Guess the Cast!

For the Akira remake it was rumored that for the roles of Kaneda and Tetsuo the actors Zac Efron and Robert Pattinson were cast respectively. For the Cowboy Bebop remake it was Keanu Reeves as Spike. For the Death Note remake it was speculated that Zac Efron (again) would play Light, Joe Jonas as L, Miley Cyrus as Misa, and the voice of James Woods as Ryuk.

Spoiler: C'mon, we have all seen these pictures at least once, right?

Now it's time to guess who will be cast for Bleach!

I'll throw my votes behind Woody Harrelson as Urahara and Ray Park as Renji. Maybe even Ken Watanabe as Komamura (fursuit or CGI pending) and perhaps Jeff Bridges/Anthony Hopkins could be persuaded to shave his head and grow out a beard for the role of Head Captain Yamamoto?

Christina Hendricks for Matsumoto! Christina Hendricks for Matsumoto!

Seconded.

 

[mrdude2010]

Yea, that really worked out for Avatar: The Last Airbender

 

[newwiseman]

Bleach is way to Japanese for a live action american film. Yu Yu Hakusho would be a much better, albeit dated, choice.

Then again with Bleach ending at the end of this arc something new and Bleach could be fun, as fun as maybe the bount arc.

 

[Owlslayer]

I`m gonna go with the flow and say that this most likely will not work. It seems to difficult to get the right feel of the manga... But oh well, if this really is happening, then we`ll all see what shall happen to this.