Riding into Neo-Tokyo is going to take a little bit longer.
After more than two decades of developing a live-action take on Japanese sci-fi classic Akira, Warner Bros. has let go of the movie rights.
The rights have reverted back to Kodansha, the manga publisher that first put out the postapocalyptic cyberpunk story by Katsuhiro Otomo in 1982. Producers and talent are said to be lining up to attach themselves to the property in preparation to be presented to select studio and streamers.
First appearing as a genre-defining manga that ran throughout the 1980s, Akira is best known as the seminal 1988 anime that was a defining moment for adult animation and Japanese culture in terms of reaching a worldwide audience.
Warners picked up the movie rights in 2002 and set Blade filmmaker Stephen Norrington to direct an adaptation, with Jon Peters producing.
What followed is one of the longest development hell escapades in Hollywood history, as the studio would go on to spend millions, well into the eight figures, over the next two decades. The Norrington version withered (the box office failure of his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was a contributing factor) and several years later, Legendary was brought on board to co-finance. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson came on board to produce, sticking on the project like glue until the end.
Writers and directors that came and went include Gary Whitta, Mark Fergus, Hawk Otsby, Steve Kloves, Allen and Albert Hughes, and Jaume Collet-Sera. Storyboards and concept art from Tommy Lee Edwards, Chris Weston, Ray Lai and many more were commissioned and then filed in drawers.
The project faced budgetary battles, cultural battles (at one point Neo Tokyo became New Manhattan), and whitewashing accusations even as it entered preproduction several times. In 2012, Warners shut down production offices in Vancouver in order to take a pause to rethink the project. At the time, it had a budget of $90 million and Tron: Legacy headliner Garrett Hedlund signed on to star. Kirsten Stewart, Helena Bonham-Carter and Ken Watanabe were in negotiations. It took the studio a few years to recover and move on.
Finally in 2017, Taika Waititi came on board to help write and direct a take. That version, too, went pretty far. The project nabbed California film tax credits and had a May 21, 2021, release date (it would have gone up against John Wick: Chapter 4) and had casting reps on the ground in Japan as it was aiming for an all-Japanese cast. That was before Waititi got pulled into several directions — he was in post on Jojo Rabbit, directing an episode of The Mandalorian and writing Thor: Love and Thunder. And the project’s schedule kept shifting while gaining two additional producers, Garrett Basch and Jeremy Kleiner. Waititi never recommitted to Akira and the project has been dormant ever since.
Set in postapocalyptic Tokyo, Akira tells the story of a teen named Tetsuo, who is in a biker gang and who discovers he has powerful telekinetic abilities that threaten the world. The only person who seems to be able to stop the all-powerful and dangerous teen is his childhood friend and gang leader, Kaneda.
The rights to Akira are the latest to join a list of a few other high-profile properties whose screen rights have become available this year. In March, horror classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre went on the market, as did the rights to the Jason Bourne spy stories, which had called Universal home for over two decades.
As Akira looks to a new home for its big-screen ambitions, perhaps a quote from the anime is appropriate: “The future is not a straight line. It is filled with many crossroads. There must be a future that we can choose for ourselves.”