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NEWS: Live-Action Akira Film Plans Get New Writer

vashfanatic wrote:

well, world's largest casting call for East Asian actors who can speak English, I guess. No studio would make a blockbuster where audiences have to read subtitles 90% of the time.

New film will likely be set in America but keeping the plot. Like post-apocalyptic America after some terrorist nukes or something.

... now that I come to think of it, there's a pretty good case you could make that, these days, setting the film in the US would be more authentic to the milleau of the original work than setting them in japan would be, what with the joint effect of the Lost Decade and the Great Recession.

nargun wrote:

... now that I come to think of it, there's a pretty good case you could make that, these days, setting the film in the US would be more authentic to the milleau of the original work than setting them in japan would be, what with the joint effect of the Lost Decade and the Great Recession.

How exactly? Neo Tokyo looks closer a Japanese than an American metropolis (I know this sounds redundant).

It's set in the future. You can make any place look like anything in the future.

enurtsol wrote:

It's set in the future. You can make any place look like anything in the future.

You don't really answer how setting Akira in the U.S. of A would make it more authentic.

but really, live-action anime adaptations in general were moving very slow...

Barefoot Gen is having trouble getting backing for an HBO miniseries, and its an autobiographical account of a historical event.

Cowboy Bebop and other projects have problems, even Battle Angel -- which James Cameron *wants* to make and has stated his support for at recent major cons...has difficulty.

I mean, "Speed Racer" was underappreciated (it wasn't SUPPOSED to be "the next Matrix", it was just an adaptation of a show meant for small children; what did you expect?")

but I must stress that "From Hell" in no way reflected the themes or basic quality of the acclaimed graphic novel by Alan Moore.

If they want to make Akira that has any chance of improving on the anime, they need to include the whole series rather than a condensed version, and you'll need at least two movies to do it.

But you could find American analogues that keep the spirit intact.

Otherwise... well, world's largest casting call for East Asian actors who can speak English, I guess.

No studio would make a blockbuster where audiences have to read subtitles 90% of the time.

To be fair, the original graphic novel is practically unfilmable. Great, but unfilmable.

Well, it sucked even for children.

i think an americanized version is just fine. it'd work. just because the manga was in japan don't mean a movie has to be. location isn't that relevant as long as it's a big city. i think new york is perfect.

about 2 to 3 hours each would suffice.

I tink the film will do well in America, but outside of, it will suck. Akira was never as highly appreciated in Asia as it was in the US.

Keonyn: That isn't an opinion. That's a fact. Otherwise, it'd do at least half as well as Kung Fu Panda and Wall-E that year. Hell, it didn't even do half as well as How to Train Your Dragon; and that film actually had enough good WOM to save it. So I'm guessing the only reason people like Speed Racer is it makes them feel "hip" again after over-hyping the hell out of the first Matrix and then having to defend the sequels.

How exactly? Neo Tokyo looks closer a Japanese than an American metropolis (I know this sounds redundant). I'll say it again: I don't want Akira anything to do with America's war on terrorism in the 00's unless they rename it George, Osama or something like that.