Lone Wolf and Cub has been a long in-development Hollywood adaptation of the famous Japanese manga turned iconic hyper-violent Japanese series of films/TV series. The live-action runs would include the infamous Shogun Assassin, which helped influence Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill saga.
The story revolves around ronin Ogami Itto, a former master assassin of the Shogun, who with his young son wanders the Japanese country side fighting off hired killers, demons and his former employers the Shogun.
The live-action take was over-the-top violent, that include “blood fountain” effects, so any feature version would likely have to be R-rated to keep to the source material.
There have been a couple incarnations of the project one included Black Swan and Requiem For A Dream director Darren Aronofsky attempting to make his own version over at Paramount, but the rights slipped away and he eventually had to exit his dream-project.
More recently it was reported that Star Trek Beyond director Justin Lin would be attached to make the film for Kamala Films.
However, a new report from The Tracking Board suggests that the rights have yet again changed-hands, putting into question who will end-up making the film and which studio will tackle it.
As Steven Paul, who helped secure the film rights to Ghost In The Shell for the DreamWorks starring Scarlett Johansson has landed the Lone Wolf rights as well with his production company SP International Pictures. Unlike Shell, Paul promises that this story will indeed have a Japanese and or Asian cast.
Paul has stated that Wolf And Cub will have an essentially Japanese cast and that they have struck production deals in both China and Thailand.
It’s unknown if Paul will again approach producer Avi Arad and possibly Sony Pictures to tackle the project, since Avi had been involved with Ghost In The Shell along with another Japan to Hollywood project the Metal Gear Solid feature film.
I wouldn’t be shocked if Sony, WB and Paramount tried to get ahold of the project. At this point a writer and director haven’t been named, while the project could very well be tackled by Chinese or Japanese filmmakers in the end.
The hope would be if a Japanese director ended-up making the film, we’d see 13 Assassins director Takashi Miike tackle it.
SOURCE: THE TRACKING BOARD