Is this acclaimed director swapping Marvel for Akira?

• Scott J. Davis


• 20 Sep 2017

Well, this could be potentially amazing news. The long-mooted live-action remake of classic anime Akira has been through various iterations and filmmakers but as yet remains on the shelf with no-one able to completely crack the project and send it into production.

In its recent history, Jaume Collet-Serra (The Shallows), Jordan Peele (Get Out) and The Hughes Brothers (From Hell) have all been attached to the project without a breakthrough but the latest name linked could finally see the deadlock broken and that is Taika Waititi.

The acclaimed actor, writer, and director behind Hunt For The Wilderpeople, What We Do In The Shadows and this October’s Thor: Ragnarok seems like a slightly off-kilter choice but perhaps his sensibilities could finally bring the project to fruition.

Created by anime artist Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira is set in a “dystopian, cyberpunk-themed 2019, Akira tells the story of a secret military project that endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.”