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HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Warner Bros. Pictures will produce a live-action, English-language remake of Japan's anime classic "Akira."
Director Stephen Norrington, who has just wrapped superhero drama "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," has reteamed with "League" screenwriter James Robinson to develop the project.
Released in 1988, "Akira" was the brainchild of Katsuhiro Otomo, who directed the film and wrote the comic from which it stemmed. The remake will tell the story of a bike gang leader who must rescue his younger brother from his involvement in Akira, a secret government project. In the process, the biker must do battle with anti-government activists, greedy politicians and irresponsible scientists.
Robinson told Daily Variety that he came to the project after Norrington had been developing the idea with Warners execs Lionel Wigram and Dan Lin, but had yet to find a take they liked.
"I've been a fan of the anime for many years and understood which elements would have to be brought to a live-action translation of it," Robinson told Daily Variety. "I've tried to retain as many iconic elements of the anime as possible."
Robinson, who also wrote and directed "Comic Book Villains" for Lions Gate. is now fine-tuning a producer's draft.
"League," set in a version of Victorian-era England where fictional characters like Dr. Jekyll, Capt. Nemo and Allan Quartermain band together to fight crime for the queen, is scheduled for a summer 2003 release via Twentieth Century Fox.
Director Stephen Norrington, who has just wrapped superhero drama "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," has reteamed with "League" screenwriter James Robinson to develop the project.
Released in 1988, "Akira" was the brainchild of Katsuhiro Otomo, who directed the film and wrote the comic from which it stemmed. The remake will tell the story of a bike gang leader who must rescue his younger brother from his involvement in Akira, a secret government project. In the process, the biker must do battle with anti-government activists, greedy politicians and irresponsible scientists.
Robinson told Daily Variety that he came to the project after Norrington had been developing the idea with Warners execs Lionel Wigram and Dan Lin, but had yet to find a take they liked.
"I've been a fan of the anime for many years and understood which elements would have to be brought to a live-action translation of it," Robinson told Daily Variety. "I've tried to retain as many iconic elements of the anime as possible."
Robinson, who also wrote and directed "Comic Book Villains" for Lions Gate. is now fine-tuning a producer's draft.
"League," set in a version of Victorian-era England where fictional characters like Dr. Jekyll, Capt. Nemo and Allan Quartermain band together to fight crime for the queen, is scheduled for a summer 2003 release via Twentieth Century Fox.
