I’ve been following the development on Warner Bros’ Akira live-action film adaptation for about a decade while it’s been the works for even longer than that, new develop had suggested the studio was again serious about putting the manga adaptation back into production.
Production was once set to begin in Vancouver with director Jaume Collet-Serra before production offices were shuttered and the film eventually fell back into limbo.
The film is seemingly in odd place at the moment while Thor: Ragnarok‘s Taika Waititi was recently linked to direct and a new script from screenwriter Marco Ramirez, the studio hasn’t given any official sign they’ll move forward with it.
However, it looks like the film’s design team is hard at work despite of this.
We reported a while back that The Predator and Cabin In The Woods production designer Martin Whist was hired for film. Well, we are seeing even more people from The Predator join the crew and there is seemingly already a large art department team working on the film.
Omega Underground has learned that art director David Scott and special effects supervisor Joel Whist are working on the project, the two recently worked with Martin on The Predator.
Scott’s extensive credits include The Predator, Avengers: Infinity War, Godzilla 2, Captain America: Civil War, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Jurassic World, Tron: Legacy, RoboCop, Super 8, Terminator Genisys, Ad Astra, and Triple Frontier.
Joel’s credits are equally impressive with Watchmen, Altered Carbon, War For The Planet of The Apes, Batman v Superman, The Cabin In the Woods, Man of Steel, Godzilla, and Bad Times At The El Royale.
It seems odd that production design and even pre-visualization work would be currently underway unless they indeed had a director hired.
Taika is currently filming Jojo Rabbit in Prague over the summer and has yet to announce plans for his next movie.
Akira is currently without production dates or updated locations.
SOURCE: OMEGA UNDERGROUND