http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/21/akira_movies/
I'm going to pray to god this doesn't blow.
So far so good, but the Times suggests that Akira purists may not be entirely happy with the fact that the story is set in New Manhattan, rather than the futuristic Tokyo of the original Manga classic.
this kinda pisses me off. though on the plus it's a two part film based off all 6 manga. Also Otomo is co-producing.

If Otomo is involved in the production, everything will be fine.

He wrote the manga, he wrote the movie, he directed the art for it and the movie itself.

Have faith in Otomo! Although it should have been Neo Tokyo, Manhattan is just Americaned bullshit.

Every adapted movie sucks or is disappointing in SOME way.

You just have to appreciate the fact that you're getting to see something that resembles the masterpiece you love.

For example, The Dragonball Z movie: bound to be horribly inaccurate and is likely going to be ridiculously bad in many ways, but for fuck's sake it's a DBZ movie!

I'd kill a man to see a man resembling goku do a kamehameha in live-action, even if he were acting by Pauly Shore.

I think the DBZ movie will probably be changed until it is totally unrecognizable, but it will still be a good movie.

Akira will probably be the same.

-NS

I don't know, there's some aspects in Akira which are peculiar to Japanese culture, I don't really see how they could adapt it to the US without totally raping the story.

I mean what about the sect, the one lead by the old lady, they're extremely Oriental in character.

I don't know I'm not really optimist.

Did anyone see the Speed Racer movie? Was it any good? From the previews it looked terrible and made me wonder if many of the things done in anime and other cartoon forms can be carried over to live-action without looking stupid. A cartoon car doing flips off a ramp by shooting out a jack type thing looks awesome. A real-life car doing the same thing looks stupid.

Are there any anime-live action adaptations that worked well?

I am stil waiting for the live action Evangelion movie. :D

I remember a few months ago, someone posted what they said was a preview of it, and I was so excited I was about to piss myself until I realized that they had cobbled together clips from Spiderman, War of the Worlds, and other movies to make it. :(

-NS

I mean what about the sect, the one lead by the old lady, they're extremely Oriental in character.

I don't know I'm not really optimist.

There's probably some obscure esoteric american legend that could be worked to fit it.

Shit, they could phrase the saviour part with the Age of Aquarius, etc.

also, how's the live-action Cowboy Bebop movie...or accurately; the rip-off of Bebop which some said

When does the live action Akira and DBZ movies come out, anyone know? I'm at school so too many sites are blocked.

And what's this about a coyboy bebop live action? Man I'm missin out :(

How about a live action rehash of the Anime?

No really, it'll be sweet.

How about a live action Naruto movie? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCdLt3BaA70)

^ That one's actually pretty nicely done :\

I've been saying for a while they should redo Akira with the entire original comic plot, and put it into a trilogy or just two movies. Fuck this live action bullshit though. Just imagine if they remade the movie to include the whole plot and still had Otomo animation, just redone and up to date with some fancy computer enhancement every so often.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuck that would be sooo sweet.

But instead, this bullshit.