Source: comicbookmovie.com
Two major anime titles, Ninja Scroll and Full Metal Panic, are set for live action adaptations and are nearing pre-production.
Ninja Scroll is to be produced by Leonardo DiCaprio (and Warner Brothers) headed company Appian Ways, whilst Mandalay Pictures has acquired the rights to Full Metal Panic.
Reports suggest DiCaprio is considering casting famous male group SMAP as the leads in the live action Ninja Scroll. He is said to be intent to “cast with Japanese people” in the adaptation, which he acquired the rights to last year.
Appian Ways also holds the rights for another legendary anime movie, Akira, though no details on this were given.
DiCaprio, said to be a great fan of both movies, has stated that filming won’t start until everyone involved is satisfied with the script.
SMAP’s agency was not forthcoming in a recent statement to Nikkan Sports: “We have nothing to say yet, but if it does come true, we would certainly like to talk about it further.”
Additionally, news that Mandalay Pictures has successfully acquired the rights to a live action adaptation of the Full Metal Panic! series also surfaced.
In what could be the the news that makes or breaks the movie, actor Zac Efron is apparently set to play Japanese born (but Afghan raised) lead Sousuke Sagara.
It is not clear whether the character will be changed to fit the casting of a non-Japanese actor, but this seems far from improbable
All this anime turning into live action. Very difficult to be successful. One reason is because of trying to fit the story into a Hollywood script (basically you're trying to shrink hundreds of episodes into two hours). Another reason is that you have to spend time on intro for new viewers which will not make the diehards happy.
I always wondered why comic books can be successfully made into live-action movies but anime/manga cannot? It is because of the images? Are anime images not transferable to the big screen?
What do you guys think?
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3 comments:
WTF, they're making a live action Ninja Scroll AND FMP? Geez...
As to your question on why anime and manga don't translate very well into movies, I dunno, I guess it may be a cultural thing. One thing I find is that the Japanese definitely have a different way of telling a story vs. Western stuff. Japanese seem more ambiguous.
Also, a lot of manga span over a ton of volumes. Even an anime series based of a manga usually leaves something to be desired, as it does not fully flush out the characters that the manga does. Some manga border on soap opera long lol.
Anyways, sorry for the long post. I actually saw your linky on CP one day and got bored and clicked on it. I think you're a blogging machine! Lol
You know that everything will eventually be turned into a Hollywood movie. No matter how crappy it still sells.
You make a good point about manga being many many volumes but I isn't it the same for comic books too? For example Spiderman must have volumes and volumes but the movie still makes sense.
Yes I'm a blogging and general internet machine. I have alot of spare time now :P
Honestly, it could just simply be a cultural thing. One thing Spiderman and Tansformers have is the nostalgia factor. They're really only mediocre movies by themselves, but a ton of people still go to watch it probably because as a kid, they used to love reading Spiderman or watching Transformers. I know that was one of the reasons I watched them.
And like I said, it's probably in the way western comics are presented too vs. Japanese manga. I find western comics a lot easier to follow, where as some Japanese manga (well the good ones and not the harem ones lol) require a bit more thinking to know what the author is trying to convey.
Just my two cents.
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