Live Action Akira Movie Bites The Dust

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: Bloody Disgusting / Avery Guerra

For those fans of the classic Japanese animated feature, "Akira", who were gnashing their teeth at the thought of a live-action American movie adaptation produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, today's news that the film has been cancelled, probably is music to their ears.

Indeed, director Ruairi Robinson has walked away from the film and both Warner Bros and DiCaprio's Appian Way consider the film "dead." That is, neither party has any plans to persue the project any further.

Fans of the original Katsuhiro Otomo film were not looking forward to an "Americanized" version of "Akira" with an all Anglo cast and a story set in a 2019 "New Manhattan," not " Neo (New) Tokyo."

"Akira" has often been credited as the film that launched the Anime boom here in America. It's groundbreaking animation and story forced many in the entertainment industry to look at the medium as a serious venue for mature subject matter, and not as merely cartoons for children.

"Akira" is set in the post-apocalyptic community of Neo-Tokyo. Tetsuo is a fiercely individualistic member of a scroungy motorcycle gang. The despotic authorities, the robot-like police, and even the cycle gang pursue Tetsuo when he's bombarded with a new, insidious energy source that has rendered him telekinetic.