Forum - View topicINTEREST: Writer: Live-Action Akira Would Have Been Set on Japanese-Owned Manhattan
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yamiangie
 Posts: 465 |
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Just because Miami 2017 says they sank Manhattan out at sea doesn't mean they literally moved the damn island!
Oh god that back story there were like 100 things wrong with it. I've lost my faith in Hollywood scifi. |
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MagusGuardian
 Posts: 593 |
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I can kinda see this idea passing somewhat, but something in the back of my head tells me someone at warner brothers doesn't like this idea and is already scouting a replacement writer
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Cyclone1993
 Posts: 947 |
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That's actually a pretty creative way to deal with this issue. Of course I've never seen Akira, so I can't really comment if it was appropriate or not, but it doesn't seem too far out there for me.
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Snomaster1
 SubscriberPosts: 2916 |
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So,they were going to set this on a Japanese-owned Manhattan. That would have been a pretty interesting idea. It's a shame we'll never know if it could have worked or not.
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dewlwieldthedarpachief
 Posts: 751 Location: Canada |
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This was the project that got me to reconsider my aversity to American remakes. I'd grumble to myself that I like Akira because it was very atypical and bizarre (but not proprietarily "Japanese" either, at least in that it remains well in the corners of memory and criminally unknown, like everything cool. I hope Honshu sinks under the weight of Louis Vuitton bags. It'd be nice if the actual person got credit instead of the "Japanese"...)
Where was I? Right, this was the straw that broke my camel's back; after hearing Zac's enthusiasm for it I couldn't help but be curious as well. Maybe not opening night curious, but enough to check it out on Netflix curious. It's a shame. Why not roll the dice and see what happens? My Akira Blu-ray isn't going anywhere, and if it sucks we can just laugh and make Kanye West jokes. |
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Utsuro no Hako
Posts: 1052 |
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Having Japan buy Manhattan is a nice throwback to the glory days of the Bubble Economy when everyone thought the Japanese would own the United States in a couple years, but Japan being in danger of overpopulation is so crazy by modern standards that it would kill the story for me.
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Penguin_Factory
 Posts: 732 Location: Ireland |
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I was actually interested to see where this was going to go, but the news that Garrett Hedlund and Kristen Stewart were going to be in it makes me think we dodged a bullet. Those two have to be among the most charisma free lead actors in Hollywood.
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belvadeer
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None of what I read in that so-called story made any sense.
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14889 |
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They didn't even have to go that far: in the 80's, the Japanese did own Manhattan!
Anyways, such machinations kinda remind us of the different ways the Japanese have manipulated their own islands to include non-Japanese in sci-fi settings like Ghost in the Shell, Scryed, Code Geass, etc. And actually, the Japanese population and economy are on the downslide, so unless they really get tired of living in tight quarters or parts of Japan become like Fukushima, overpopulation would be an alleviating issue. |
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jdnation
Posts: 2120 |
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Better Idea -
1. Have it set in regular old Japan. 2. Have an American presence there. After the Akira incident and World War III, make it such that the American military took control of Japan and its reconstruction. In the interim, American workers, immigrants, military settled there for various economic reasons post-WWIII. Set the events of Akira during a time where Japanese ethnic Nationalism is on the rise and America is in a difficult transfer phase of handing authority back to the Japanese government. Basically much like a parallel to Britain and India, or recently in terms of the U.S. presence in Iraq/Afghanistan. The Colonel and most of the military and scientists can be American. Kaneda and Tetsuo can be outcast American ethnic orphans named and raised by the Japanese. Everyone else can be Japanese or a mix of other ethnicities who might've moved to Japan following WWIII for construction jobs. Akira himself can be a Japanese boy, since Akira rarely speaks or does much aside from psychic stuff. There you go. Simple solution that makes a hell of a lot more sense than what they came up with. WB can have that for free. |
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MagusGuardian
Posts: 593 |
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this is Warner Brothers your talking about right? if the idea someone pitches for something they want to do doesn't fly with their plan for the project they up and replace them and say whatever reasoning they want |
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Dimlos
Posts: 226 |
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Trying to get it below an R rating, Japan buying Manhattan due to overpopulation (which makes even less sense when we consider Manhattan's population density is ridiculously high) and a white guy cast as a Japanese character. At least that terrible King of Fighters movie had enough sense to go direct-to-DVD, because that's precisely what this idea sounds like, not a $100 million theater release.
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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Yeah, I'd be surprised if this got even $60 million. You can shoot a Hunger Games on that budget, when you consider you're mostly casting teenagers with zero ability clout for demanding high paychecks, and filming in the woods. Or you can be creative and stretch $30 million to make films like Cabin and Dredd, but AKIRA is definitely something that will need more like $120 m to look halfway decent.
I can't even say I'd be morbidly curious to see what they make, because I prefer something at least good be made so that there's hope for future anime/manga adaptations on the large big budget scale. |
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vulcanraven01
Posts: 677 |
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If Hollywood is so insistent on adapting anime for movies, then they'd be better off sticking to stuff where they don't have these issues of trying to westernize but at the same time not losing the fans.
Stuff like Cowboy Bebop (what happened to that?), Code Geass, Hellsing, Claymore, etc. All those would be so easy to adapt and most could be done with a reasonable budget, which I think seems to be the problem. Hollywood want to adapt these animes, but they are too scared to throw the required budget at them. |
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2599 Location: Germany |
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I am glad the project died. It was so misguided and had too much backseat drama. Monster and Spike Lee Oldboy could be good though.
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