The planned live-action adaptation of “Naruto” has apparently been keeping Hollywood busy for much longer than was previously known. An industry veteran revealed that there was already an interested party 20 years ago. We summarize.
Early in view
The US media manager Amanda Nanawa, who worked for the Funimation Channel, The Anime Network and Comcast, among others, reported on LinkedIn conversations from 2006, when “Naruto” and “Bleach” celebrated great success through their US broadcasts on Toonami and Adult Swim.
According to Nanawa, Warner Bros. asked VIZ Media at the time which of the two manga series would be best suited for a live-action adaptation. The studio viewed “Naruto” in particular as a promising candidate because they hoped for a success on the same scale as the “Harry Potter” films.
However, she herself spoke out in favor of “Bleach” at the time. In her opinion, a film adaptation of “Naruto” would have been difficult to make if it had not involved experienced filmmakers who can work well with underage actors.
Two decades later, a live-action adaptation of “Naruto” is actually in development at Lionsgate – and according to Nanawa’s information, a new live-action adaptation of “Bleach” is also likely to be created at Warner Bros. However, this statement should be viewed with caution as there are currently no official reports on this matter.
“Akira” as a warning example
In view of these projects, the canceled Hollywood film adaptation of “Akira” can be viewed as a warning example. After years of development, the filming rights ultimately returned to the publisher Kodansha.
Japanese director Kazuaki Kiriya explained on X at the time that he took part in several meetings during development and read different versions of the script. Looking back, he wasn’t really surprised about the project’s ultimate failure.
In his opinion, the time is now ripe for a Japanese live-action film adaptation of the cult work. While such a project would previously have failed due to technical and financial limitations, Japan now has the necessary resources to realize a high-quality implementation itself – without Hollywood involvement.
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© Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha / Naruto Production Committee