Taika Waititi will reportedly be focusing on his live-action film project AKIRA

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 director later said he wasn’t sure if he would direct the film. At the time he explained:

“The whole thing has been put on hold. We had to keep pushing dates and that encroached on Thor dates, which were immovable. So Akira ended up moving 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 going to do in fucking two days… I think it’s going to happen eventually. Not sure if I will.

Since then, the director has signed on to write and direct a Star Wars movie, but according to entertainment columnist Justin Kroll, senior reporter at Deadline, that Star Wars film is not Waititi’s focus right now, Akira AND. has shared Chirping:

“Since everyone is wondering where his STAR WARS movie is, if I were a bettor my guess is Taika’s next movie is his WB movie AKIRA, which he put on the shelf to make L&T. left the film and the script should be in the studio soon.Again nothing set in stone as the film would go through a smooth process before greenlighting including setting a budget but it seems all of its attention is focused on that project.

So, it looks like Waititi might actually be directing it Akira movie after all! When previously speaking about how she’s trying to handle the film, Waititi said:

“What I wanted to do was an adaptation of the books, because a lot of people say, ‘Don’t touch that movie!’ and I’m like, ‘I’m not redoing the movie, I want to go back to the book.’ Many people who are freaking out haven’t even read the books, and there are six gigantic books to flip through. He’s so rich. But (the anime) Akira is one of my favorite movies; 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 film was shared and some changes were made to the source material. That synopsis reads:

When a young man’s telekinesis is discovered by the military, he is taken in to be transformed into a superweapon, 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 kidnapped by government agents led by the Colonel. Desperate to get his brother back, Kaneda agrees to join Ky Reed and his underground movement to reveal to the world what really happened to New York City 30 years ago when it was destroyed.

Kaneda believes their theories are ridiculous, but after confronting his brother again he is shocked when he displays telekinetic powers. Ky believes Tetsuo is headed to release a little boy. Akira, who has taken control of Tetsuo’s mind, Kaneda clashes with the Colonel’s troops to stop Tetsuo from freeing 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 the island of Manhattan as he did thirty years ago.

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

We have no idea if this is the direction Waititi is still trying to go, or if he’s changed his approach to telling this story. It will be interesting to see how Waititi handles this story due to his cinematic and storytelling style. But, if that’s true, it looks like we’ll see his vision of the film come to life.

The original movie came from the creator Katsuhiro Otomoand the synopsis of the original film reads: “Neo-Tokyo, 2019. The city is on its way to rebuilding after World War III. The central characters, Kaneda and Tetsuo, two high school dropouts, are members of a A biker gang riding for joy. In the opening scene, Kaneda and Tetsuo stumble upon a secret government project to develop telekinetic humans, ostensibly for use as weapons. Tetsuo learns of the existence of his “equal” Akira, the subject more powerful than the project, and decides to challenge it…”

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