Two things are totally in right now: Revivals and live-action remakes of animated films. Think Fuller House, Girl Meets World, the live-action revamps of Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. Almost nothing is hotter than nostalgia right now.
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Get Out writer/director Jordan Peele appears to be jumping on that train. He’s in early talks with Warner Bros. to direct the studio’s live-action adaptation of the classic manga Akira, according to The Wrap.
Akira has been stuck at a production dead end for 15 years, since Warner Bros. bought the rights to develop Katsuhiro Otomo’s series back in 2002. The studio has approached numerous directors for the job, but they’ve all backed out, including Star Trek and Beyond director Justin Lin. If Peele signs on, the film could finally move forward.
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Source say that Warner Bros. has been eyeing Peele since he became a household name for Get Out, which has seen critical and box office success — it grossed $150 million at the box office last weekend after being lauded in headlines as the horror film to see.
Akira follows a pair of bikers in the dystopian city of New Tokyo after the old Tokyo was destroyed in an attack, though sources say the Warner Bros. adaptation will move the story to the U.S., to a city called New Manhattan. The bikers become government targets after one of them develops psychic powers, and they go on the run not only from their own leaders but from Akira, the psychic who destroyed the city in the first place.
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Akira was last halted by Warner Bros. in 2012 due to budget and script issues. It hasn’t moved forward in production since then.
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