Posted in: Movies, Recent Updates, Warner Bros | Tagged: akira, taika waititi

Taika Waititi Is In Talks For The Akira Remake

Published Tue, 19 Sep 2017 21:31:35 -0500

Another forever delayed project might be getting off of the ground. According to Deadline Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi is in talks to take over the Akira remake that Warner Bros has been threatening us with trying to get off of the ground for several years.

Warner Bros purchased the rights to make a movie for seven figures but nothing has ever gotten beyond pre-production.

The picture got close several times. Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby and Book of Eli scribe Gary Whitta wrote a script which originally had Ruairi Robinson aboard to direct. The Hughes Brothers and Jaume Collet-Serra were among the filmmakers who sparked to it. It got closest to a start date several years ago, until it closed the Vancouver production office, the studio let lapse test options deals it had with Dane DeHaan and Michael Pitt,. who had been competing for the lead role of Tetsuo, and were going to star alongside Garrett Hedlund, Kristin Stewart, and potentially Ken Watanabe and Helena Bonham Carter. It halted.

Akira is a six volume story, and according to Deadline, Warner Bros has wanted to split it between two movies to help tell the entire saga. The original 1988 film helped popularize anime worldwide.

At the moment the talks aren't finalized and there isn't any indication whether or not Waititi would request a new script. Taika Waititi is an accomplished writer so if he does take over this project he'll likely want to write at least some of it himself.

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