Let Me Drink Your Tears: Live-Action AKIRA Back On Track At WB

 

AKIRA has had a strange time in development hell; but according to Variety, things are back on track (again, again, AGAIN) and the adaption of the critically acclaimed anime film and manga series might hit theaters sometime in 2015 with Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan, House of Wax, Unknown) in the director's chair, and Leonardo DiCaprio set to produce with Exec producer being the director the original 1988 film, Katsuhiro Otomo.

In early 2012, the studio shut down pre-production so that fixes could be made to the script, including tightening the budget from its original $90 million range. At the time, Collet-Serra was in such high demand coming off the recent success of the Liam Neeson action pic “Unknown,” that he decided to leave instead of waiting for the changes to be made so that he could pursue other projects. He eventually landed another Neeson pic, “Non Stop,” which bows next February.

The studio did begin looking at other directors recently, including “Catfish” helmers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, in hopes of finding someone who could deliver a film on a more smaller scale. But ultimately, the studio was still in love with Collet-Serra’s vision, and sources say the director found time in his schedule as well as a new way to appraoch the adaptation that would meet the studio’s budget request.

Collet-Serra is currently in pre-production on the crime pic “Run All Night” with Neeson, Joel Kinnaman and Ed Harris and would do “Akira” afterwards in spring of 2014. It is unknown what the new budget would be.

AKIRA's last attempted release supposedly had Gary Oldman (then Ken Watanabe), Helena Bonham Carter, Garett Hedlund, and Kristen Stewart set to star.

So, you think this will actually happen? I really hope Warner Bros have settled the budget issues that have plagued the film so we can finally see it. I love the original film; but I always love seeing new takes on things, and unlike the rest of the internet, I'm excited to see this come into fruition.