We've been reporting on a new Akira movie since 2011, and after nearly a decade, it looks like a live-action adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's classic manga will finally move forward, as Warner Bros. has given Akira a 2021 release date.
Multiple sources, including Exhibitor Relations and The Hollywood Reporter, revealed that the new Akira adaptation is slated for a May 21st, 2021 theatrical release from Warner Bros., the same day that John Wick: Chapter 4 is scheduled to hit theaters.
Based on Otomo's cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic manga of the same name that was originally published between 1982–1990, the live-action Akira movie has had multiple directors on board over the years, including Albert Hughes and Jaume Collet-Serra, but Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, co-director of 2014's What We Do in the Shadows) is now at the helm. At one point, Garrett Hedlund was in talks star as Kaneda, but there are no updated casting reports at this time.
Stay tuned to Daily Dead for more updates, and for those unfamiliar with Otomo's Akira manga, which was previously adapted as a well-renowned anime film of the same name by Otomo himself in 1988, we have the synopsis below (via Amazon), as well as the trailer for the anime:
"Welcome to Neo-Tokyo, built on the ashes of a Tokyo annihilated by a blast of unknown origin that triggered World War III. The lives of two streetwise teenage friends, Tetsuo and Kaneda, change forever when paranormal abilities begin to waken in Tetsuo, making him a target for a shadowy agency that will stop at nothing to prevent another catastrophe like the one that leveled Tokyo. At the core of the agency’s motivation is a raw, all-consuming fear of an unthinkable, monstrous power known only as Akira."
Taika Waititi pictured below, center, on the set of Thor: Ragnarok (photo courtesy of Disney/Marvel):
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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