The AKIRA remake is like the polar ice caps melting: we all hope it never actually comes into fruition, but it still plunders forward on its way to reality.
After aborted attempts with Albert Hughes and Jaume Collet-Serra, it seemed like WB had given up on mounting a large-budgeted adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo’s original manga (the ill-fated American OLDBOY didn’t help either). However, Den Of Geek picked up the rumor that the studio has tasked one of their golden boys to shepherd a possible AKIRA trilogy into existence.
That golden boy? You guessed it: Frank Stallone.
Sorry, it’s Nolan. Of course it’s Nolan.
Christopher Nolan has apparently met with “a previously attached filmmaker” who DOG refuses to name (though they had no problem throwing the DARK KNIGHT director’s name out there) in his purported attempts to get AKIRA back up and running as a producer. That throws out the theory that the untitled 2017 movie that got slated last week was actually the first AKIRA, which would already seem unlikely given that Nolan only recently put his own trilogy to bed for WB.
But him as “consultant” or “godfather” or whatever they want to call him in the marketing? Sure, why the hell not? I mean, AKIRA certainly fits into the dark, urban template he set with the DARK KNIGHT trilogy, even moreso than the JLA universe the Nolan-produced MAN OF STEEL set into motion. Plus, it’s obvious that he won’t be as crucial to the DC EU as they initially intended, leaving him free to get this darker, more obscure adaptation up and running.
Who that “previously attached filmmaker” is? Hughes or Collet-Serra, or someone we’ve heard less about? Is it for a potential rehire, or just to get his/her thoughts/materials on the project?
If NOLAN HIMSELF was going to direct these three movies, I could see the collective fanboy uproar subsiding like Tetsuo’s rage explosions at the end, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to go that way, so I say, just let it die, WB. I don’t know who’s knocking down your doors clamoring for this remake (that you obviously don't want, given how close it was to production when you guys canceled it last time), but I suggest you tell them to go mess with some other, less beloved anime, or better yet, to come up with a bloody original premise. It’s been done, legends say.
