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Hollywood’s Akira project has stagnated for years. Last June, concept art for the proposed live-action Hollywood adaptation of Akira surfaced, and it looked surprisingly great. Two months later in August, word came out that Unknown director Jaume Collet-Serra was attached to helm the project for Warner Bros. No news followed until this past February when Collet-Serra shared his intentions to make Akira his next film while doing pressers for his latest film, Non-Stop. What’s come since then? A whole lot of nothing. Surprise, surprise.
While Hollywood attempts to figure out what they want to do with the property, a fan project entitled The Akira Project began to sprout up on various websites seemingly out of nowhere last week. The crowd-sourced project consisted of around 100 people across 12 different countries pitching in to create a three-minute long live-action Akira trailer. As is standard of most “fan films,” hesitance is expected. However, the production value is through the roof, with post-production on the trailer alone taking a year and a half. If this is all we’ll see of a live-action Akira film, let it be known that it’s definitely worth the time watching it.
Props go to producer/director Nguyen-Anh Nguyen. I hope the hype surrounding the trailer is the kick in the ass Hollywood needs to get their own film off the ground. You can read more about The Akira Project and see some amazing screens of the trailer on their official website.