Back in August, rumors surfaced when Unknown director Jaume Collet-Serra was in talks to rejoin the proposed live-action Akira adaptation after leaving the project a year earlier. His return to the film revolved around his ability to create the film to fit Warner Bros.’ rumored $60 – $70 million budget when earlier scripts called for upwards of $180 million. Since then, nothing of informative substance involving the film has come out.
However, over the weekend, Collider caught the director as he went through the press rounds for his latest film, Non-Stop, and the topic of Akira was brought up. The director claims that he’s “focusing on Akira now” as the “powers that be are [now] interested.” When asked if there was a budgetary focus he’s prioritizing, Collet-Serra states, ““No, it’s an overall conceptual thing. You know, it’s how big the movie should be, you know, for the complexity of the concept.”
If Akira is, in fact, Collet-Serra’s next film, I expect an ample (and equal) amount of attention and scrutiny to follow every step of the film’s pre-production. Considering just how popular and embedded Akira has become in pop culture since its American debut in 1988, ranging from Kanye West’s Stronger video on a large scale to Auggie the 9th’s Akira-inspired #GAWS cover and RETROSPECT’s “The Breakout” video on a smaller scale, each move and decision will be magnified with the judgmental lens of the internet.
[via Collider]