Live-Action Akira Film Is Still Getting Made

[StriderShinryu]

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.

If you mean, however, why they feel the need to remake something that already had a great original run? Other than an easier path to cold hard cash, I don't think there is an answer to that. One could say that they loved the original so much that they wanted to bring it forward to a new generation.. but if they were that much of a fan, they would recognize how their attempts are tantamount to sacrilege.

... and I didn't even like Akira that much when I saw it originally. Heh

 

[The Random One]

Well, the total power of nerddom may not have been enough to kill it, but now it'll just be a small forgotten movie and there'll be no chance that when someone talks about Akira people say 'oh the Keanu Reeves movie?' which is what the problem was going to be. We killed it as dead as it gets.

Plus, as Moviebob said just last week, the limbo of under production does not necessarily means it's under any actual sort of production.

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

My guess is that people are realizing we only have a few years to enjoy it as fiction.

 

[SovietPanda]

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

 

[StriderShinryu]

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.

 

[KAPTAINmORGANnWo4life]

Doesn't a whole city get leveled in Akira? How the Hell do you cheapskate that?

 

[SovietPanda]

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

 

[StriderShinryu]

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.

 

[mazimadu2]

Over the years, many directors have called the Akira franchise (both the comics and anime) unfilmable. So why don't they just do the relatively simple task of making a CG film instead? Wouldn't that be much easier (and cheaper)?

 

[bushwhacker2k]

The original plan for Akira was reportedly to make a two-movie epic, now it sounds like Warner Bros. want another soulless action piece that will bear nothing in common with its source material other than a couple of characters with the same names. Oh, and it will probably be widely-reviled by fans of the anime, but will make a slew of cash thanks to a brilliant marketing campaign.

Like every other live-action anime film ever made in America? *cries*

 

[kypsilon]

No surprise there really. I may get flamed by this, but let's be honest, Akira wasn't all that great. It was hours of watching some guy scream TETSUO!!! as his friend mutated and ate his way through Tokyo, his psychic powers growing beyond anything human kind had ever seen.

I want a live action movie of the first season of Those Who Hunt Elves. Tell me that wouldn't be worth it just for the cheesecake factor. Am I right? Eh?

 

[commasplice]

Snip.

Well, I saw Blood in a slightly different light. As with Akira, the original Blood OVA was one of the first bits of anime that I saw, and it played a key role in making me the "hardcore" anime snob that I am today.

All that being said, my problem with the live-action movie wasn't so much the quality of the fights, but just the fact that it wasn't faithful to the original movie past the first 20 minutes or so. I actually had the same problem with Blood+, but I feel like that, at least, stood pretty well on its own two feet as a B+ (dohoho) series.

And, I mean. I don't mind that they tried to give the movie more of a story than just "I think Blood is a pretty cool guy. Eh kills shit and doesn't afraid of anything," but that's really who Saya is, and I feel like trying to give her more depth really sort of betrayed the original character. She didn't need a reason to want to kill the bad guy. She's a ball of fire and RAEG and the bad guy is a completely justifiable object for her to unleash her fury upon.

And at the very least, they could have sort of merged the OVA with the series by introducing Diva as the main antagonist instead of all that bizarre, contrived bullshit with Alice and Onigen. No one cares about Alice. Alice is superfluous. Her job is to not die while Saya does her thing. Her role probably could have been better filled by a lawn chair.

Edit: I guess I should just say tl;dr it's not just about changing shit, but about changing enough that you lose what made the source material what it was. That's why US Akira is a bad idea and why all those other movies listed by twaddle sucked so damn hard.

 

[Lyri]

I won't be surprised if they change the main characters name because it sounds too much like Canada.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I liked Orphan a lot more than I thought I would. That being said, the rest of the article had me thinking "oh yes; the Green Lantern strategy" more than a few times, especially the end of the article when the marketing campaign was brought up.

Honestly, I don't own Akira and I barely remember it since I only saw it once, in elementary school and, remember liking it less than Fist of the North Star. I should give the original another view or two...Hey! Who wants to bet on the odds of the WB making a live-action Ghost in the Shell next?

 

[uguito-93]

And that noise everyone is hearing is the sound of fans of the original having their souls crushed

 

[Lionsfan]

Have never really seen Akira[footnote]I'm trying to rectify that soon[/footnote], so this doesn't apply to me that much, however I just want to die and die soon. Because on the off-chance it makes a little money, then that'll be the greenlight for the Cowboy Bebop live-action movie....

 

[Mr. GameBrain]

JUST LET IT DIE GODDAMNIT!!! >:O

 

[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