Live-Action Akira Film Is Still Getting Made

[SenorNemo]

Guys,
W E D O N 'T K N O W T H I S W I L L S U C K.

Besides the revolving door of writers and directors and unconfirmed actors, we don't know anything about it. Yes, it will almost certainly never equal the original, and it's a flawed idea to adapt Akira to live action because the concept so very well suited animation, but we will always have the original. It won't magically disappear the second of the film's premier. Besides, the new director isn't bad: Unknown was very well paced and had a very nice visual style. Personally, I'm expecting a decent, well made summer action movie, and nothing more. If the fanboy in you is still disconsolate at Akira being turned into a summer tent-pole (which, again, does not automatically make it bad), look at it this way: at least it might get more people to watch the anime or read the manga.

And yet, I do think that Akira isn't the best film to try in live action. Animation's strength is showing visual absurdities, using visual storytelling techniques that would just look weird in live action. Akira is that sort of film. They need to be fast-tracking things like Cowboy BeBop and Evangelion (which also has a ton of visual absurdities, but would benefit from the additional empathy real actors would bring).

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Why is everybody trying to revive cyberpunk all of a sudden?

Well, to be fair, I don't think cyberpunk as it was originally created has really been captured quite yet. There are many movies, some all time greats, that touch upon certain aspects of cyberpunk but I don't know that I've ever seen a movie I would call cyberpunk from start to finish. Personally I think there's a great deal of cyberpunk that has yet to be explored in forms other than just literature, and some of it would make for a great movie.

Bladerunner... tell me that wasnt cyperpunk through and through

OT: I would have watched this with keanu reeves, on release date, just to watch all the fanboys cry

Bladerunner, while a great film and one of my favourites of all time, was more sci-fi than cyberpunk. It also dealt more thematically with the concept of artificial intelligence as intelligence than most cyberpunk does. Cyberpunk is more based in the themes of future day class systems and street VS corporate. It's also more heavily rooted in a digitally enhanced contemporary day (or contemporary as seen in the 80s/90s anyway) rather than a future world as seen in Bladerunner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk
read, consider blade runner again... then tell me im wrong xD

While the Wikipedia entry does list Bladerunner as a notable entry in cyberpunk as seen in film, it also lists authors who created the genre before the film existed. Most (all?) of those authors don't really write anything that resembles what you see in Bladerunner. I suppose it depends on what you consider cyberpunk then. If you go by the definition information given in the entry I'd say it's still somewhat doubtful that Bladerunner is worthy of consideration even if it is mentioned by name. If you go by the original definition that existed upon the genre's creation, it's not. *shrug*

I won't say you're wrong, but I also won't say that Bladerunner is a particularly good example of cyberpunk. Either way, it's a great film that everyone should watch.

Cyberpunk isn't about AI?... Ghost in the Shell? Hello? System Shock? Do you even know what your talking about :|

 

[Nurb]

Cyberpunk isn't about AI?... Ghost in the Shell? Hello? System Shock? Do you even know what your talking about :|

I thought system shock was classified as sci-fi horror

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

I can only think this As a result:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jafd97yJFOI

 

[Reed Spacer]

Hey, technically the original anime Akira sucked. Do you have the slightest idea how much of the story was either cut out or outright changed?

The movie used less than a tenth of the original manga, maybe even less.

 

[JehuBot]

Me: Die monster, you don't deserve to live in this world!
Akira movie: It was not by my hand that I live! I was created by directors who wanted to makke a Quick buck!
ME: A quick Buck!? You crush fans dreams and hope!
Akira Movie: Maybe the same can be said about all things which have fans!
Me: Your words are as cheap as the director who created you! Fandom dosen't need you in their memories!
Akira Movie: What is a fan? *Throw 7/11 cup to the ground* Nothing more then a muking acme covered fool. Have at thee!

Yeah, that's what I got to say about that.

*Slow clap*

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

Isn't this topic revived every month?
We've been assured of its existence for years now. I'm a die hard AKIRA fan, but even I'm done with complaining about how this is a bad idea...

As an Akira fan i will also twiddle my thumbs and wait to see how this turns out.

 

[A-D.]

Hey! Who wants to bet on the odds of the WB making a live-action Ghost in the Shell next?

Stop giving them Ideas! God damnit..

Then again, Shirow would never part with his brainchild, yes you may find the pun and enjoy it. So if anything, he'd be attached to the project and make sure they make it good/to the source material.

I mean, check the whole Franchise, the Manga, the two Movies and the 2 Series which spawned also a Movie. Shirow was attached to all of these as a consultant at the very least. So i doubt some American Company can just buy the rights and do whatever with it.

Lastly, the most important reason I'd say Bladerunner is cyberpunk is becuase it helped create it. Don't believe me? William Gibson's Neuromancer came out in 1984, and is widely regarded as one of the defining Cyberpunk novels. Bladerunner came out in 1982, and William Gibson has freely admitted that when he saw it, he was afraid to release Neuromancer in case people thought he'd plagiarised it. Bladerunner pre-dates most, if not nearly all, examples of cyberpunk literature, yet has many of the same elements. Does that not make it a progenator of the cyberpunk movement?

For the record, Blade Runner was intended to have a much cleaner sci-fi Look. Basicly think sterile clean ala Mirror's Edge "Future". The dirty Version was done due to cost. So yeah, totally unintentional and yet that made it so popular. Or rather, made it cyberpunk as opposed to merely being sci-fi. By Default Cyberpunk is a Sci-Fi Genre, since its always set in the "world of tomorrow" as it were.

 

[weker]

snip

I think Zack Snyder could do it justice as he is very good with source material. I also think passing is one of the most important aspects which they could tear apart.
I have heard the script got set to someone, and apart from being an awful script they have renamed character like Tetsueo (cant spell name) to Travis

 

[Fai57]

No one's posted this yet?

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-actual-live-action-akira-script-worse-than-you-think/

Even if this isn't the most current script, it hardly inspires confidence. >_<

 

[commasplice]

No one's posted this yet?

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-actual-live-action-akira-script-worse-than-you-think/

Even if this isn't the most current script, it hardly inspires confidence. >_<

I'm just going to pretend I didn't click that.

 

[teh_Canape]

Why is everybody trying to revive cyberpunk all of a sudden?

look at it this way

first Cyberpunk is reborn
next, Steampunk

 

[Ranorak]

Not only do I think this will fail, I hope this will fail.

Can you imagine if it became a succes, and more anime's get a life action movie.

 

[Nutcase]

Not only do I think this will fail, I hope this will fail.

Can you imagine if it became a succes, and more anime's get a life action movie.

I have so little confidence for these USA! USA! USA! remakes that I might actually welcome a Naruto Jackson in the Akira movie. It's gonna fail anyway, why not have some memorable bad-ass ninja monologues in there to at least make it half funny?

 

[Ironic Pirate]

Honestly I can't say this bothers me.

I mean, it's not like there can be only one thing called Akira and this negates the existence of the original. If anything, it gets more people to watch the original. In fact, I've kind of wanted to see if it was worth all the bitching, despite not liking anime in any way shape or form.

And even if there's only a 1% percent chance of it not being shit, might as well let them try. If it's really horrible, then they might not do it again, and we all get something to laugh at. If it's awesome, then we get an awesome movie and people who don't like anime (me) can see what this whole Akira thing is about. And I bet at least one person in this thread hasn't seen the original until they heard about the new one, and that has to be some kind of benefit, right?

 

[Tentickles]

It's either going to be really really bad... or some how they pull it off.


Probably bad.

Yea, bad.

 

[Hungry Donner]

If someone wanted to re-adapt the original manga to the big screen, either as a live action series of movies or, preferably, an animated series of movies, I'd be OK with that. I'd even be OK with an American studio doing this with a largely non-Asian cast - providing they were committed to bringing the extended story to film.

However it's clear that this movie isn't trying to do any of this. It's a weak cash-grab and I suspect it won't do terribly well at the box office (although I doubt it will be a flop either). Afterward, of course, the studio will chalk this up to the difficulty of pleasing a geek audience even though they clearly went ahead wit no regard to this audience to begin with.

So pretty much Green Lantern part 2.

 

[UberNoodle]

Hey, technically the original anime Akira sucked. Do you have the slightest idea how much of the story was either cut out or outright changed?

The movie used less than a tenth of the original manga, maybe even less.

Katsuhiro Otomo wrote and directed the film and created and wrote the comics before that. If anybody is qualified to change art to convert to another, it is the orginal artist.