Let me look look at this from the view of a teenage anime fan:
The only two possible scenarios:
Scenario 1 (The less likely one). The movie is absolutely amazing, and it turns out becoming a classic among teens. Everyone my age loves it. I expect them to be more tolerant of anime, and possibly try to get them into anime, or at least try to show them the original Akira. They decline and make fun of me for liking anime because it's foreign and "nerdy". I am lonely.
Scenario 2 (The pretty much inevitable one). The movie is a commercial and critical failure, everyone makes fun of it, and it farther worsens anime in the eyes of teenagers. I am, once again, lonely.
Either way, if the movie is made, I lose.
IvoryTowerGamer said:
The problem is less that they're changing the names and more that they are changing
everything. They're taking a foreign production and Americanizing it so they can appeal to a bunch of teenagers that don't even view anime as socially "normal", just so they can make a decent profit. Most people won't see it because of it's relation to anime, and most anime fans won't see it because they view it as butchering something they love. It's a stupid for a movie to begin with.