Led by "Ghost In The Shell," the hit anime series "Naruto," "Death Note," and "Bleach" are reportedly going to have their very own live-action Hollywood movie adaptation. For anime fans, however, the million dollar question has always been: will Hollywood studios ever get these live-action adaptations right?
With the exception of "Ghost In The Shell," anime fans are downright skeptical with the upcoming anime-based live-action Hollywood movie line up. Almost everyone can remember the disaster Hollywood-film "Dragonball Evolution." The movie was so bad that the creator of "Dragon Ball" publicly disowned the movie. And as much as fans love their anime, not everyone can swallow that bile of a film like "Dragonball Evolution."
By all indications, the upcoming "Ghost In The Shell" Hollywood live-action adaptation of the popular manga and anime series will be a smash-hit. That's supposed to happen when you cast the gorgeous Scarlett Johansson in the lead role. Kusanagi and the rest of the crew will hit the theaters on March 29, 2017. No worries about that one.
According to Movie Pilot, the distribution rights of "Death Note" have been picked up by Netflix. The live-action adaptation of "Death Note" will be helmed by Adam Wingard with Nat Wolff (Paper Towns) playing the lead role of Light Yagami. "Death Note" is currently in post-production and is reportedly going to hit the theaters in 2017 via Warner Bros.
"Naruto" is the third-best-selling manga of all time and has spawned countless television episodes, video games, and animated films. "Naruto" is so big that fans are likely predicting that any live-action adaptation is going to fail fan expectations no matter what.
According to Nerdist, "Naruto" will be distributed by Lionsgate, the same studio that gave fans the sub-par live-action adaptation, "Avatar: The Last Air Bender." Former Marvel executive producer of "Spider-Man" films Avi Arad has been attached to the "Naruto" adaptation with Visual effects specialist Michael Gracey reportedly directing the "Naruto" live-action adaptation. Lionsgate has yet to announce the film's release date.
Jobs & Hire recently reported that a live-action movie adaptation of the hit manga and anime series "Bleach" is slated to hit the big screen in 2018. According to the report, "Bleach" creator Tite Kubo is keeping a close eye on the movie adaptation to ensure that the film adheres to the original manga and anime source. Dan Mazeau is reportedly attached as a writer with Warner Bros. distributing the film.
Interesting side note, Warner Bros. have also picked up the rights to the live-action adaptations of Akira and Robotech. Fans are fervently hoping that Hollywood studios have learned from the past. Animes like 'Ghost In The Shell,' 'Naruto,' 'Death Note,' and 'Bleach' are well-loved by fans and deserve to be made the way they were supposed to be made.
