I have to admire the tenacity of Warner Brothers in their attempt to make a live action adaptation of the classic manga and anime Akira. First it’s in development, then it’s dead, then it’s back in development with the hiring of new writers. Now it is looking like that development is taking another step forward with Warners being in talks with the Hughes Brothers to helm their planned two-film adaptation.
The Hughes Brothers certainly did good work with last month’s The Book Of Eli, so maybe they’ll be up to bringing this sprawling epic story to the big screen. If you’ve somehow managed to miss the original groundbreaking anime film from director Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira is the story of a teenage biker whose latent telepathic powers are released by government experimentation in a post-nuclear war, rebuilt Tokyo. The proposed live-action version reportedly moves the action from Tokyo to Manhattan.
