Warner Bros. Officially Greenlights Live-Action Akira

Veldt Falsetto

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OutrageousEmu said:
Here's a concept you may or may not understand. There is this thing called war. In it, a country that is fanatical, genocidal and imperial is one that is dealt with by any means necessary. Japan at the time was unquestionably all three, something you seem to have forgotten. You don't just say right or wrong as if thats even close to an argument, thats sociopathy. It neuters an act of self defence as if it were an attack, and relegates any death as being equally punishable regardless of intent. And yet, in any and all cultural representations of it, the parralel event is invariably depicted as random and with Japan having done nothing to incur this wrath. Which is akin to the Germans saying the Allies were totally picking on the Nazi's, who did nothing wrong at all.

By contrast, 9/11 was done in a time of peace, with no warning, and with no sane outcome apart from just the slaughter of innocents.

Oh, and you may or may not have noticed that 9/11 happened ten years ago, while when Akira was made, it happened over forty years ago. One is closer. Can you guess which?
If I may just interject, I feel that you're purposefully forgetting that, just because the leader wants war, the civillians or even those fighting the war may not and that what happened in Hiroshima was inhumane, you don't just nuke a city killing thousands, maybe millions of innocent people! Of course something like that is going to change the culture significantly and be a huge moment in the history of that country.

I wouldn't bring up 9/11 because still isn't the theme of every hollywood blockbuster around, WWII IS though, the americans go on about "winning WWII" in every film going. You're basically saying that because Akira is about one massive thing that happened a long time ago it has no relevence but isn't that the same for films like Saving Private Ryan in which people think is one of the best films of all time, is that film irrelevent?

If the answer is yes then when is the time that a topic becomes irrelevent and why does a topic lose its relevence after a certain amount of time, surely people can still relate to the threat of war or a nuclear holocaust, especially in todays climate?

If the answer is no the why is Saving Private Ryan more relevent than Akira or rather why is the nuclear disaster that destroyed a city and had a massive impact on an entire civilisation that is even a hinderence today less important than a war that killed millions but involved people who speak the same language as you in which you "won"?

There are no winners in war, only losers, and the fact that America majoratively treats war like a game they can win really bugs me, you aren't playing the heroes guys, you're killing people, you may be killing for a cause but celebrating the annihilation of human life sickens me.
 

BaronOfStuff

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Yeah, yeah, it's going to be shit, just like DBE was.

But also like DBE, nobody is forcing anyone to watch it. In other words, this live-action adaptation will eventually fade into obscurity, in pretty much the same way that DBE has now. It's really not that big a deal.

So stop crying.
 

Puddleknock

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For me it all depends on how they execute it. If the film just uses the name of Akira and only a passing reference to the source then it is likely to be horrible. However, if the film is given a proper go then the remake may be worthwhile.

Also I wonder since they are likely to cast American actors then the film will be equally likely to be set in the states rather than keeping it to Japan. American remakes tend to relocate the story to the states, which is not always a bad thing. Will be interesting to see how that is dealt with.

Overall I think its just best to wait for more details before making any concrete statements on this.
 

CGAdam

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I'm gonna risk immolation here and say that the original Akira was an adaptation, too, and not a good one. They took a huge, multi-volume manga and chopped it down to feature length. I'm going to wager that the geeks that saw that back then were just as distraught and outraged by the anime as everyone lamenting Hollywood's attempt to make this work now.

I'm not expecting the US version to be a faithful remake of the original manga (ironically, most fans of the movie probably wouldn't know if it WAS), and if they can give their version a little more cohesion and plot logic than the animated shoot-em-up with lasers and psychic powers the cartoon version was, I say go for it.
 

Knife-28

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I never really heard of Akira until today, so, yea, it doesn't really matter to me if it flops.
 

funguy2121

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Earnest Cavalli said:
I rather liked Garrett Hedlund in Tron. Just wanted to say that. There are SO many shitty prettyboy actors who could've been cast in that role - it was a Disney movie, after all - such as the stinker who's going to play Spiderman.

If it's being directed by the guy responsible for House of Wax, which was the worst horror movie I'd seen since House of the Dead, then I probably won't go anywhere near this movie, most especially since Akira was the first anime I ever saw, back when I was 16.

Although I really can't besmirch House of Wax too much. It did put a pole through Paris Hilton's head, after all. Now if only life would imitate "art" :p
 

Casual Shinji

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I'll give you one big fat reason why this live-action Akira (if it's even gonna be called that seeing as it's not going to feature a Japanese cast) is going to suck: It's live-action!

I love this movie, but just like with Bladerunner you didn't watch Akira for its story but for its sights and sounds. If there was a Top 5 Most Beautifully Animated Movies then Akira would be in it. On a technical level of hand drawn animation it has no equal except for Night On Bald Mountain from Disney's Fantasia.
Add to that the uniquely dazzling and sometimes disturbing soundtrack and you have a majestic feast for the eyes and ears.

In terms of animation Akira was a masterpiece that puts the entirety of modern anime to shame. You take away the brilliant animation and soundtrack and you're left with nothing much.
 

Smooth Operator

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I can't even grasp how they can be this stupid, the main reason anime works as it does is the overall style of absurdity, no live action movie can ever replicate that.

Talking as if anyone involved in these conveyor belt productions gives a shit.
 

Steven Biehler

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Analyizing Threat--threat level = HIGH
Reason/ Remakes (almost) always suck.
Further Analysis -- the 80s where so good they will never die and we try to bring them back to show modern day kids but pulling it through the time stream to make it current seems to horribly mutilate the subjects.
EVEN F@@$ING WORSE WHY LIVE ACTION. CANT show FRUSTRATION ANY FRUTHER BECAUSE I AM ALREADY IN CAPS!!! Who had the idea to make a Live Action Movie of an Iconic pice of animated culture. If this continues you know what we gonna see next? GUESS?!??!!? I bet a live action remake of either Princes Mononoke or Sprited Away. I bet you that Fox or WB or some other stuido is just waiting till they can bribe someone to get them the rights so they can try to cash in on the nostalgia with a remake that they will put as little work into as possible, and i FURTHER BET YOU that they will completly miss the point of the orignal film. (user continues to rant getting angrier and angrier. the rest of the rant has been cut out due to the fact it melted a computer he got to angry)
final thought-this movie must be stoped.
 

Blind Sight

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OutrageousEmu said:
j-e-f-f-e-r-s said:
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?
The thing is, the original Akira movie is more than just another anime waiting to be badly adapted. Akira was the movie that broke the entire anime genre into the American mainstream. Before then, anime was largely the reserve of film-students and the hardest of the hardcore nerds. Akira was the first anime film to make serious bank in the US. So not only is it an important film in terms of impact, for many people it was also their first exposure to the genre, and as such it holds a spacial place for many people.

Basically, Akira is anime's Star Wars. It may not be quite as descended-from-the-heavens awesome as everyone makes it out to be, but it's still damn good, it did revolution the genre, and it proved that anime could find a genuine audience in Western culture.
I really have to question that. Most of it dips into cliche and heavyhanded symbolism (Has Japan ever managed to produce one anime that didn't continue to bring up Hiroshima? I was over 50 years ago and everyone involved agreed in hindsight it was necessary), it rips off a lot from Bladerunner and other cyberpunk movies, and it has a badly edited and confusing ending.
Just going to point out that numerous historians have provided large amounts of evidence that there were plenty of alternatives to Hiroshima that would have resulted in far less deaths. See Robert James Maddox or Robert P. Newman's works for examples. Documents include numerous reports between the Soviet Union and Imperial Japan's high officials beginning in 1944 where they discuss a partial surrender with most of their mainland Asian territory going back to the original owners but the power structure remaining the same in Japan. When this was brought up to Roosevelt at Potsdam he flat out rejected it as a 'Soviet trick'. So yes, peace was completely possible without the use of atomic weapons.

Just because the majority accepts it as 'necessary' doesn't negate the moral issues involved, the cultural effects, or the actual history.

My opinion of the Akira movie? Well, it's simple. I probably just won't see it, easier on the childhood memories that way.
 

Rodrigo Girao

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Just as Wings of Desire was a metaphor for a divided Germany and the oppressive nature of communism, Akira is a metaphor for Japan's nuclear devastation. And just as they made that City of Angels piece of shit, this is a remake bound to completely miss the goddamn point of the original and dumb down everything to cater to complete retards.
 

The Random One

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That's not a problem. The problem when Hollywood remakes any big non-Hollywood thing is that when you mention it outside of the Nerd Clique, people say, 'Oh, I know what that is, it's that Hollywood movie.' (When if the thing is question hasn't been remade you can explain it to the Non-Nerd in a way that might make them interested; a person who thinks they already know something will have more trouble beins swayed in that way.)

That's what people mean when they say Hollywood will 'ruin' something. It won't ruin the something, the something will be there forever, it already happened. But it'll ruin public perception of the something, as people will think of the big Hollywood movie, which will likely be a simplified bastardization of the something, as opposed to whatever the original something is. Sure, some people might go after it and see the original something out of curiosity generated by the Big Hollywood Thing, but that part of population is very small, and unless they are already know what the original is like they might have been wrongly primed by the Hollywood film and end up not liking it solely for that reason.

A movie with a big director at the helm and Keanu Reeves on the lead is likely to ruin something.

A movie with a director known for a Paris Hilton film and whose main actors are some half-famous guys and probably someone else we'll think of later is not likely to ruin something.

Relax, Nerds. The world is safe again.
 

Scrustle

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Cracked did several articles on why this film will suck. I'm not sure if they were serious or not, but they put forward a very convincing argument if what they all say is true. I can't be bothered to link them here because no doubt if someone in this thread hasn't already linked them, they will soon.
 

Simriel

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OutrageousEmu said:
laryri said:
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.
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.
Doesn't matter what the style was... it was still a movie :p
 

dthree

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The Random One said:
That's not a problem. The problem when Hollywood remakes any big non-Hollywood thing is that when you mention it outside of the Nerd Clique, people say, 'Oh, I know what that is, it's that Hollywood movie.' (When if the thing is question hasn't been remade you can explain it to the Non-Nerd in a way that might make them interested; a person who thinks they already know something will have more trouble beins swayed in that way.)
I think this is a good point. Otaku forget that when hollywood takes a story from anime or scifi or some other genre with a limited, but devoted following, they aren't making the film for those fans. That wouldn't make enough money, they have to target if for the general public, or large demographic. Deep down, though, the fan really wants the remake to be good, but often thats not possible and appeal to a wide enough audience to justify a budget that could actually make it happen.
 

Parnage

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The Akira movie was "meh" beforehand. I doubt a remake could do worse to it.

Yeah, you heard me. I am sorry. I've seen it, I own it, I've gone over it several times and I just don't see the appeal. It's not some amazingly well done piece of perfection. It's got flaws and I can't overlook all of them.

Ignoring the fact that yeah the film is a ripoff of Bladerunners cyberpunk style which I don't mind really it's a neat style. It start's off pretty interesting in fact I am sure if the Manga was completed when the film was made they might of even had a pretty good film but you and I and everyone else knows that latter half of that film goes full on arthouse pretentious crazy on you and an ending that literally ruined the entire mood of the film.

Don't give me this "Just because you don't know what the ending is.." NO ONE knows what the ending is. The movie doesn't even know what the ending to Akira was. The film was finished and done before the manga ended. They made it up and hoped for the best and it didn't work out too well in my own opinion.

Hell if the people actually care about the series, you might even see a real ending to the film and hell maybe one that doesn't outright cause me to wonder how much LSD they where and if the guys behind the EVA ending where watching Akira while doing that show.

Doubt it, it'll probly be worse then the original but eh they bought the rights so in theory the creators or at least those who care put it in the right hands.
 

twaddle

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Gabanuka said:



Also to add conversation value. I feel this is a bad idea.
ninja'd
i saw the original script for this on cracked. this movie will go into my does not exist file in m life much like films like that rhyme with "WAGON MALL" and "MEET WRITER THE LEGEND OF MUNCHI"
 

ThunderCavalier

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Earnest Cavalli said:
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.
Now, to add a similarly fitting picture someone else already added.

Gabanuka said:
 

B-Lavaunit

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everyone should read these:
http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-actual-live-action-akira-script-worse-than-you-think/
http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-urgent-questions-about-live-action-akira-remake/
from what I have read the author actually cares about the original, and he is quite pissed about this being made.