Taika Waititi's Live-Action AKIRA Film Gets a Little Update

If you've been holding your breath for the live-action Akira movie, first of all… breathe. Second of all…yes, it’s technically still happening. Maybe. Kind of. But we finally have something resembling a real update, and it comes straight from producer Andrew Lazar, who recently spoke with Moovy TV.Now, Lazar didn’t exactly drop a bombshell. When asked about the current state of the project, he started with: “There’s no update.”But then, like a slow-motion psychic explosion in the heart of Neo-Tokyo, he added: “I expect we’ll have one in the next couple of months.”Sure, it’s not the timeline-shifting news fans may have hoped for, but it is confirmation that the project is still moving forward, even if it moving incredibly slow.Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit) has been attached to direct the live-action Akiraadaptation since 2017. Leonardo DiCaprio is still on board as a producer. And despite the movie’s long history of developmental issues, this version has remained quietly simmering. The movie even had a release date at one point: 2021. But Warner Bros. yanked it from their slate in 2019, and Taika chose to ride the Marvel train a little longer with Thor: Love and Thunder.Fans were hopeful he'd pick it back up during the pandemic downtime… but nope. Akira faded into radio silence, until now.Katsuhiro Otomo’s groundbreaking 1988 film, adapted from his own manga, changed the game for animation and dystopian sci-fi. Hollywood’s been trying to remake it for decades, but every time someone gets close, it slips away.Waititi’s take has intrigued fans, especially after he mentioned his intention to cast Asian actors and stay true to the source material’s spirit rather than directly adapt the anime.When previously talking about how he is looking to handle the film, Waititi said: “What I wanted to do was an adaptation of the books, ’cos a lot of people are like, ‘Don’t touch that film!’ and I’m like, ‘I’m not remaking the film, I want to go back to the book.’ “A lot of the people freaking out haven’t even read the books, and there are six gigantic books to go through. It’s so rich. But (the anime) Akira is one of my favourite films; my mum took me to see it when I was 13 and it changed my life.”So, at this point, I guess we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens in a couple of months.

Apr 15, 2025 - 17:26

Taika Waititi's Live-Action AKIRA Film Gets a Little Update

If you've been holding your breath for the live-action Akira movie, first of all… breathe. Second of all…yes, it’s technically still happening. Maybe. Kind of.

But we finally have something resembling a real update, and it comes straight from producer Andrew Lazar, who recently spoke with Moovy TV.

Now, Lazar didn’t exactly drop a bombshell. When asked about the current state of the project, he started with: “There’s no update.”

But then, like a slow-motion psychic explosion in the heart of Neo-Tokyo, he added: “I expect we’ll have one in the next couple of months.”

Sure, it’s not the timeline-shifting news fans may have hoped for, but it is confirmation that the project is still moving forward, even if it moving incredibly slow.

Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit) has been attached to direct the live-action Akiraadaptation since 2017. Leonardo DiCaprio is still on board as a producer. And despite the movie’s long history of developmental issues, this version has remained quietly simmering.

The movie even had a release date at one point: 2021. But Warner Bros. yanked it from their slate in 2019, and Taika chose to ride the Marvel train a little longer with Thor: Love and Thunder.

Fans were hopeful he'd pick it back up during the pandemic downtime… but nope. Akira faded into radio silence, until now.

Katsuhiro Otomo’s groundbreaking 1988 film, adapted from his own manga, changed the game for animation and dystopian sci-fi. Hollywood’s been trying to remake it for decades, but every time someone gets close, it slips away.

Waititi’s take has intrigued fans, especially after he mentioned his intention to cast Asian actors and stay true to the source material’s spirit rather than directly adapt the anime.

When previously talking about how he is looking to handle the film, Waititi said: “What I wanted to do was an adaptation of the books, ’cos a lot of people are like, ‘Don’t touch that film!’ and I’m like, ‘I’m not remaking the film, I want to go back to the book.’

“A lot of the people freaking out haven’t even read the books, and there are six gigantic books to go through. It’s so rich. But (the anime) Akira is one of my favourite films; my mum took me to see it when I was 13 and it changed my life.”

So, at this point, I guess we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens in a couple of months.