Taika Waititi Reportedly Focusing on His Live-Action AKIRA Film Project

Several years ago it was announced that Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi was looking to develop a live-action adaptation of the iconic anime Akira for Warner Bros. The filmmaker later said that he wasn’t sure if he would be directing the film. He explained at the time:

“The whole thing went on hold. We had to keep pushing the dates, and it encroached on the Thor dates, which were immovable. So Akira ended up shifting two years down the track … Post-Thor. So I’m not sure if even in two years I’d be — I don’t know what I’m doing in f—ing two days … I think eventually it will happen. I’m just not sure if I’ll be doing it.”

Since then, the director signed on to write and direct a Star Wars movie, but according to entertainment reporter Justin Kroll, a senior reporter at Deadline, that Star Wars movie isn’t a focus for Waititi right now, Akira is. he shared on Twitter:

"Since everyone is wondering where his STAR WARS film is, if I were a betting man my guess is Taika's next movie is his AKIRA movie at WB, which he put on shelf to do L&T. He never left the film and word is script should be into studio soon. Again nothing set in stone as the film would go through regular process before greenlight including figuring out a budget but sounds like all his focus is on that project."

So, it looks like Waititi actually might actually be directing that Akira movie after all! When previously talking about how he is looking to handle the film, Waititi said:

“What I wanted to do was an adaptation of the books, ’cos a lot of people are like, ‘Don’t touch that film!’ and I’m like, ‘I’m not remaking the film, I want to go back to the book.’ A lot of the people freaking out haven’t even read the books, and there are six gigantic books to go through. It’s so rich. But (the anime) Akira is one of my favourite films; my mum took me to see it when I was 13 and it changed my life.”

While Waititi was initially developing the project, a synopsis for the movie was shared, and there are some changes to the source material. That synopsis reads:

When a young man’s telekinesis is discovered by the military, he is taken in to be turned into a super weapon and his brother must race to save him before Manhattan is destroyed by his powers. Kaneda is a bar owner in Neo-Manhattan who is stunned when his brother Tetsuo is abducted by Government agents lead by the Colonel. Desperate to get his brother back, Kaneda agrees to join Ky Reed and her underground movement who are intent on revealing to the world what truly happened to New York City 30 years ago when it was destroyed.

Kaneda believes their theories to be ludicrous, but after facing his brother again is shocked when he displays telekinetic powers. Ky believes Tetsuo is headed to release a young boy. Akira, who has taken control of Tetsuo’s mind, Kaneda clashes with the Colonel’s troops on his way to stop Tetsuo from releasing Akira, but arrives too late. Akira soon emerges from his prison courtesy of Tetsuo as Kaneda races to save his brother before Akira once again destroys Manhattan island as he did thirty years ago.

While the core and the spirit of the story remain, this version of the story will take place in Neo-Manhattan and not Neo-Tokyo. The other changes deal with Kaneda and Tetsuo. In this story, they are brothers instead of best friends, and Kaneda is a bartender instead of the leader of a biker gang. There is also the addition of a character named Ky Reed, who is a rebellion leader.

We have no idea if this is the direction that Waititi is still looking to go, or if he’s changed his approach to retelling this story. It will be interesting to see how Waititi handles this story because of his filmmaking and storytelling style. But, if this is true, it sounds like we’re going to get to see his vision of the film come to life.

The original movie came from creator Katsuhiro Otomo, and the synopsis for the original movie reads: "Neo-Tokyo, 2019. The city is well on the way to rebuilding after World War III. The central characters, Kaneda and Tetsuo, two high school drop-outs, are members of a joy-riding motorcycle gang. In the opening scene, Kaneda and Tetsuo stumble upon a secret government project to develop telekinetic humans, apparently for use as weapons. Tetsuo learns of the existence of his 'peer' Akira, the project's most powerful subject, and determines to challenge him..."

Do you think that Taika Waititi has what it takes to bring this movie to life in live action? Will he do the story justice?