Naruto Live-Action Movie Is In Production
Naruto fans are about to be very excited or very upset, as Lionsgate reportedly has a live-action movie based on the popular Masashi Kishimoto-created manga and anime on the way. While this project isn’t new–it has been in the works since 2015–it seems like the recent glut of live-action anime adaptations may have spurred Lionsgate to get things back on track. Whether or not that’s the case, there are also reportedly some names attached to the film, and, to be honest, they don’t particularly inspire a lot of confidence in the project.
Lionsgate has a live-action adaptation of Naruto in development, with names from The Witcher, Venom, and The Greatest Showman involved.
The latest announcement says that Tasha Huo, best known for her work on The Witcher: Blood Origin, has completed a new script draft for the Naruto movie. While there are undoubtedly a lot of cooks in the kitchen for the Netflix Witcher franchise, both the prequel series and the flagship Witcher series have been critically panned, partially due to their lack of faithfulness to the source materials. If there’s one thing anime fans don’t like, it is when the source material isn’t adhered to in the switch to live-action, so hopefully, that isn’t the case here.
As for the director of the Naruto movie, the name last reported to be attached was Michael Gracey. Gracey is best known for his work on The Greatest Showman, so it’s not like he has particular experience in adapting something like a shonen anime.
Another name that has been attached to the Naruto movie since it began development is producer Avi Arad, who produced the live-action Ghost in the Shell film adaptation, which was also not particularly well-received.
Arad has had more success on the comic-book side of things, as the Venom film he produced has been relatively well-liked by fans of the character. Eric Feig, best known for the Twilight and Hunger Games franchises, was also announced as a producer.
As for the director of the Naruto movie, the name last reported to be attached was Michael Gracey. Gracey is best known for his work on The Greatest Showman, so it’s not like he has particular experience in adapting something like a shonen anime. To Gracey’s credit, he did say he would try to work closely with Kishimoto to make the film as close to his vision as possible when speaking to Collider in 2018.
Before the recent scripting regarding the Naruto film, the last time we had updates was in 2020, when a casting call was made to find the three leads of the film — Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. The casting process was then put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Presumably, they will be picking up casting soon if the studio is happy with the newly revamped script.
With hundreds of chapters of manga and anime episodes, there is plenty of source material to pull from for the film. However, with that much ground to cover, one has to wonder how much the film will adapt.
The Naruto manga and anime follow the titular ninja, a boy who dreams of becoming the leader, or Hokage, of his village. The wildly popular franchise has since gotten two sequels, Naruto: Shippuden and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations.
With hundreds of chapters of manga and anime episodes, there is plenty of source material to pull from for the film. However, with that much ground to cover, one has to wonder how much the film will adapt.
In the meantime, the new One Piece adaptation is hitting Netflix this week. As a fellow Big Three franchise, it will be interesting to see how fans receive it. As for the Naruto film, we’ll just have to wait and see if Lionsgate can put together a quality adaptation.
