Akira Mutating Into Messy Development for Warner Brothers

Like Universal and their ridiculously ambitious plans with The Dark Tower, Warner Brothers had been toddling along with Akira. But unlike the former (where I think under some reasonable reconstruction and cutting the fat from their original intentions), I never thought we'd see the day a live-action version of the manga/anime film would see the light of day.

JoBlo reports WB's courting of Keanu Reeves has failed and they're back to square one in search for their lead. Because as we all know, nothing screams "teenage Japanese biker" than the middle-aged American star of The Matrix.

Adding more weight to the troubled times comes word the studio has ceased all pre-viz work on the film and the majority of its staff have been handed pink slips. They must have struck a vein because the studio went as far to send out a formal statement when asked on the matter:

"Production on 'Akira' has not halted or been shut down, as the film has not yet been greenlit and is still very much in the development stage. The exploratory process is crucial to a project of this magnitude, and we will continue to sculpt our approach to making the best possible film."

So everyone is in spin control, I see, stating how Albert Hughes remains attached to direct. One of the sources' behind the article compared it to Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity which, to be fair, had great uncertainty towards it as well. But barring someone like Will Smith getting involved and making it a vehicle for one of his kids, I don’t realistically see how a cinematic take on Akira is doable.