Akira Live Action Finally Happening?

Warner Bros. problematic adaptation of the classic manga Akira may yet make it in front of the cameras. After years and years of going back and forth, it seems that WB has settled for a director and a budget.

Originally WB hired Albert Hughes (From Hell and The Book of Eli) to helm the project but because his version of the film needed a budget of 180 million dollars, WB keen on making the film with a smaller budget stopped the production on its tracks.

Then came director Jaume Collet-Serra (House of Wax, Orphan and Unknown), who managed to lower the budget from the previous 180 million to 90 million. Serra’s vision included Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Helena Bonham Carter and Ken Watanabe. With production already set to begin, WB stepped in again and stopped the project, with the aim of lowering once again the budget to a more sensible 60 – 70 million dollars, needless to say, Serra left the project to focus on other projects and any development on the film stopped entirely.

After over a year of limbo, it seems that WB is again attempting to bring the project back from dead and it seems that director Jaume Collet-Serra is once again connected to the project. Before bringing Serra back, Wb tried to bring directors that were used to direct lower budget films, like Catfish and Paranormal Activity 4 directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, but because the studio was always keen on having Serra directing the project they waited.

It seems that the new new vision that Serra has for Akira fits within the smaller budget, but what is unknown is if this new vision still has the previous cast.

Jaume Collet-Serra just finished Non-Stop, an airplane thriller starring Liam Neeson and is currently in pre-production for another thriller called Run All Night, which also stars Neeson, with Joel Kinnaman and Ed Harris.

So it seems that fans like myself need to wait a little bit more for the long awaited live action feature film. I’m just concerned that with the constant lowering of the budget, the film because I think will have lots and lots of CGI will be compromised in either that department or in the casting.

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