Warner Bros. Officially Greenlights Live-Action Akira

Earnest Cavalli

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Jun 19, 2008
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Warner Bros. Officially Greenlights Live-Action Akira



That Hollywood remake of Akira we've all been dreading? Looks like it's headed into production.

According to Variety, Hollywood's industry rag of note, Warner Bros. has scheduled production to begin in late February of 2012. Though most relevant details remain unknown at this early stage, the movie has been given a $90 million budget and is to be directed by Jaume Collet-Serra [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1429471/].

Don't recognize the name? Don't feel bad. Most prominently, Collet-Serra directed the 2005 Paris Hilton-starring House of Wax remake, and the more recent and infinitely-better-by-virtue-of-Liam-Neeson-murdering-dudes Unknown.

The real question now is who the studio will tap to play Kaneda and Tetsuo, the tale's two pivotal male leads. Variety wafts the rumor that Garret Hedlund (the protagonist from the recent Tron: Legacy) "is considered a front-runner," though the rumor fails to specify which part Warner Bros. would have him play.

Now that we've run out of even borderline-solid facts, I suppose we should take a moment to wring our collective hands at the news that Hollywood is no doubt going to destroy our cherished memories of this film via hyperactive editing, watered-down morality, and *gasp* Caucasoid characters!

Histrionics aside, would anyone like to point out solid, concrete reasons why this thing is going to be terrible? Like that relatively miniscule production budget? Or Garrett Hedlund's propensity for being out-acted by those two robots from Daft Punk?

Don't get me wrong, I don't have any faith in this remake, but I'm hoping the comments below will be of the "here is my list of salient, well thought-out points on why this film makes me sad" instead of various iterations of "OHNOES! The gaijins are ruining my animes!" followed by grotesquely detailed stories about tear-stained body pillows and wall scrolls being shredded in rage.

Go to it my little otaku. Make me proud.

Source: Twitch [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118044771]

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Jack and Calumon

Digimon are cool.
Dec 29, 2008
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So, ummm, Akira is a big deal, right? Like one of those shows that fans shun you for not seeing and ban you from all their conversations until you have seen it because they're jerks like that?

And Hollywood MAY be ruining it by not offering it the "respect" that it deserves?

Is this different to any other adaptation that Hollywood does of something from Geek Culture that's NOT superheroes?

Calumon: Is this another show you're gonna watch and be miserable after watching for another month? : (
 

vrbtny

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Sep 16, 2009
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Earnest Cavalli said:
The more recent and infinitely-better-by-virtue-of-Liam-Neeson-murdering-dudes Unknown

That.... is just a awesome thing you did there. I'm not sure what made me laugh, but it was just a wonderful description of a movie
 

Bacaruda

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Well, I'm not really surprised since there was a rumour a long time now.
Oh well... It's still not going ruin the original. Besides Akira is on Blu-ray. I think I'm going buy it soon...
 

laryri

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May 19, 2008
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Jack and Calumon said:
So, ummm, Akira is a big deal, right? Like one of those shows that fans shun you for not seeing and ban you from all their conversations until you have seen it because they're jerks like that?

And Hollywood MAY be ruining it by not offering it the "respect" that it deserves?

Is this different to any other adaptation that Hollywood does of something from Geek Culture that's NOT superheroes?

Calumon: Is this another show you're gonna watch and be miserable after watching for another month? : (
Akira is already a movie is the thing.
 

newwiseman

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Production starts in late 2012,.. .. ..! OMG the Mayan's were right the world is going to end.
 

DTWolfwood

Better than Vash!
Oct 20, 2009
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so im curious if they can actually get all the incredible explosions and grotesqueness of the original anime with only $90 million dollars. My guess is no. But my expectations are on the floor, so if it manages to be an average movie, I should be pleasantly surprised.

BloodRed Pixel said:
TheDooD said:
let me just get this out the way......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tim5nU3DwIE
Subtitle:
NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Nooooooooooooooo [http://nooooooooooooooo.com/]
 

Benjamin Zeledon

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Sep 29, 2010
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My thought on why this will be bad:

Akira is one of the most iconic pieces of animated film. It pushed Japanese animation into the eyes of the world, helped pretty much push the even notion of an adult cartoon aimed at adults that made the Simpsons, Futurama, and South Park even possible. It is one of the most quotable and visibly striking films of the last 25 years and is for the most part as iconic in film as Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, and the Godfather in my opinion based on homage, influence, and the fact that if you ask people if they know what Akira is, they will likely respond with "that movie with the guy turning into a giant blob right?"

It really just does not need a remake. In fact, it needs as much of a remake as the Godfather. It's still watchable.

Yes, the opinions in the movie were more for a Japan that was still recuperating from having two major cities nuked and that is a major part of their culture and if you miss those parts about Akira you might not get the whole movie. Especially as Japan was pretty much right between the Soviet Union and the United States with China and North Korea leering at it menacingly and the idea of Tokyo being nuked in the crossfire of WWIII was nothing new. Yes, for American audiences this may be difficult to understand for some. Though for others, the movie only makes sense if you were constantly feeling the dread of a nuclear strike at every moment (Akira). For others, its a confusing philosophic piece of filmmaking that resembles the mind-fuck that is Donnie Darko, just about the dangers of nuclear war, failed education, and bitterness instead of...well time travel. Especially seen now with the red menace and the cold war pretty much dead.

Re-making it now is like the remake for Red Dawn. It's a piece of the past about a piece of the past. Remaking it for current audiences when this threat no longer exists does not make sense. It will only get people pissed off and will not benefit you because no one will watch it because nothing you put in it will affect the modern day. So, that's my reason why this is idiotic.
 

RandV80

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Oct 1, 2009
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Benjamin Zeledon said:
My thought on why this will be bad:

Akira is one of the most iconic pieces of animated film. It pushed Japanese animation into the eyes of the world, helped pretty much push the even notion of an adult cartoon aimed at adults that made the Simpsons, Futurama, and South Park even possible. It is one of the most quotable and visibly striking films of the last 25 years and is for the most part as iconic in film as Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, and the Godfather in my opinion based on homage, influence, and the fact that if you ask people if they know what Akira is, they will likely respond with "that movie with the guy turning into a giant blob right?"

It really just does not need a remake. In fact, it needs as much of a remake as the Godfather. It's still watchable.
You know saying that got the gears turning... Japan should totally make an animated remake of the Godfather! We'll have to change a few things of course, as it will star an awkward teenage boy he gets thrust into the role as the Godfather where he will have to learn to run a syndicate crime family, and all his underlines will be busty multi-colour haired females who all want to have sex with him. Which itself is very unfortunate because he's trying to get into a perfectly clean and chaste relationship with his cute female classmate and/or childhood friend and he's worried about scaring her receiving the wrong impression and getting scared off from all the sexy but purely coincidental misunderstandings.
 

Delusibeta

Reachin' out...
Mar 7, 2010
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OutrageousEmu said:
No, it was an anime. As much as Otaku may say its an act akin to genocide and the greatest injustice of all creation, there are a lot of people who simply don't watch anime.
The problem with that argument is that calling this film "Akira" would put off the people who don't watch anime.

On topic: the problems with this film:
a) The anime community have written it off, largely based on Dragon Ball Evolution and The Last Airbender,
b) Live action adaptions of animation (Western, Japanese or otherwise) all are pretty damn awful,
c) I don't think they'll be able to attract people who are unaware of Akira.
d) Aforementioned unaware people will probably associate it with DBE, or become aware of the negative hype, and avoid it.

I'm forecasting a return of less than $25 million on this.