Live Action Akira Shut Down! The People Rejoice!

[frigidmagi]

Blastr

Welcome to a new age in Hollywood, where studios are putting major projects on hold if the numbers don't line up. The latest victim? The new live-action version of Akira.

According to Heat Vision, the film is being shut down while Warner Bros. Pictures and the filmmakers reassess its budget. The production offices in Vancouver are being closed and the staff is being sent home, while director Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan) and the producers will take the next two weeks to go over the script and find ways to squeeze a few more dollars out of it.

The budget right now is reported to be around $90 million, which is half what it originally was when director Albert Hughes (Book of Eli) was ramping the movie up a while back. Apparently the studio wants to knock another $20-30 million off the current price tag.

The reason? Star power—or lack of it. Garrett Hedlund from Tron: Legacy has been cast in the lead role, but it's not like moviegoers broke down the doors and rushed to see him in that underperforming sequel. The other potential cast members—Kristen Stewart (Twilight), Ken Watanabe (Inception) and Helena Bonham Carter (Dark Shadows)—aren't exactly blockbuster names either (Stewart's movies have all bombed outside the Twilight franchise), and in any case they're still working out their deals.

Sources say that the project could have the plug pulled permanently if the budget cuts aren't made, which would be a shame since this is the third time that Akira has come close to becoming a Hollywood feature film. But those famous inside sources also say that "Warner Bros. just won't let" the movie collapse completely, so maybe there's hope yet that Akira won't join At the Mountains of Madness, The Dark Tower and all the other big genre projects that have hit hard times lately.

I can't imagine why the writer is sad about this, this is wonderful news! Thank God, the movie is sinking and there is little chance of it recovering. Woooo!

[Derek Thunder]

I was incredibly sad to see Mountains of Madness get shelved but this is good news. Still, I was kind of hoping they'd be able to get Snookie to play Tetsuo post-blobification.

"HELP ME KANEDA..."

Of course the original transgenic hybrid wasn't nearly as orange.

[B4UTRUST]

I can't say I experience any sadness at this... Though I too would love to see a Mountains of Madness big budget flick.

[Charon]

*drinks to the death of Live Action Akira*

As for At the Mountains of Madness. It's one of those stories that's just long enough that you can be mostly faithful to the story without having to add a crazy amount of stuff and while it wasn't the freakiest of Lovecraft's stuff in my opinion, it is still a great story. I'm not going to be entirely saddened by it's death however, as it likely would have been turned into an action-adventure with guns aplenty and explosions and shit.