Live-action remakes of classic animated movies have flooded theaters over the past decade, despite many of them receiving middling reviews. The disappointing box office of the live-action Snow White has led Disney to reconsider its plans for future live-action remakes. It remains to be seen if the success of Lilo & Sтιтch makes them resume the halted plans.

Another recent successful remake is the How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake, which worked significantly well, considering the stakes at hand. Despite justified reservations regarding the requirement for such a remake and the possibility that it won’t live up to the expectations, it’s a sweet love letter to one of the most exciting fantasy movies of the 21st Century.

However, the complaint remains that live-action remakes of many animated classics are unnecessary because part of their charm is the animation and the narrative fluidity that the medium affords storytellers. Of Netflix’s many live-action remakes of anime movies and shows, only a few have ever captured the essence of the original. So, the lack of a live-action Akira is relieving.

A Short History Of Akira’s Live-Action Failures

When the unique and aesthetically pleasing animated movie Akira first came out in 1988, people were enthralled by its cyberpunk setting and postmodern philosophy. Sony soon acquired the rights to Akira‘s manga in the ’90s with the intention of creating a live-action adaptation. However, these plans eventually fell through, and the project was scrapped before the turn of the century.

Warner Bros. stepped in next, making a seven-figure deal to acquire the rights to make Akira in live-action. Despite acquiring the rights in 2002, the live-action project never came to fruition. It spent years in development hell due to some major pushback regarding the choices to relocate the movie from Japan and even cast white actors in the major roles.

During the 23 years since Warner Bros. first acquired the rights to the Akira live-action film, there have been many prominent names linked to the possible project. Directors Stephen Norrington, Ruairi Robinson, the Hughes brothers, and Jaume Collet-Serra, and screenwriters James Robinson, Gary Whitta, and Steve Kloves, have all worked on it at some point between 2002 and 2017.

Famous actors in the industry, including the likes of Chris Evans, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Franco, Robert Pattinson, Keanu Reeves, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Gary Oldman, Ken Watanabe, Helena Bonham Carter, Keira Knightley, Paul Dano, Alden Ehrenreich, and Toby Kebbell were all either cast, offered roles and then declined, or screen-tested as characters in the movie over the years.

After 2017, Jordan Peele, Justin Lin, and George Miller each pᴀssed on the project after being offered, and it was announced in late 2017 that Taika Waiтιтi would be directing the live-action remake. However, Taika Waiтιтi’s live-action Akira movie has been canceled, as Warner Bros. hasn’t renewed the rights, which expired in June this year.

Akira’s Visuals Would Be Very Difficult To Translate Convincingly In Live-Action

If there’s any lesson to be learned from the failed Ghost in the Shell remake, it’s that the filmmaking quality doesn’t justify whitewashing characters of other ethnicities. So, the small number of Japanese actors ᴀssociated with the live-action Akira over the years is already discouraging. Moreover, the movie’s visuals are essential to its storyline, and they work in animation.

Animation as a medium of storytelling allows directors, editors, animators, and writers to bend the laws of reality to suit the story at hand. Even when they appeal to our sense of realism, animated movies are refreshingly liberating in their visual design because they’re not limited by the need to adhere to the laws of nature as we experience them.

The part of Akira that makes it so unforgettable and iconic is its stunning visual design. The world it’s set in, the fight choreography, and the wild vehicle stuntwork are possible because it’s free from real-world constraints. Remaking the movie in live-action would risk robbing the story of this freedom, inadvertently undermining its infectious impact on viewers.

Pulling Akira Off Properly Wouldn’t Be A Cheap Endeavor

The existence of dystopian and political sci-fi movies like Blade Runner and the Star Wars prequels, which feature some of the best sci-fi movie characters of all time, proves that there is possibly a way to remake Akira in live-action that still treats the source material with respect and stays true to it. However, that would involve an enormous budget.

Recreating the architecture and plan of Neo-Tokyo itself will involve millions of dollars’ worth of CGI work if it’s to look polished and appealing like in the animated movie. The stunts and fight scenes won’t be cheap either, and given that the film still only has a cult following, this budget might be impossible to recover from box office collections.

The Other Problem: Would Expectations For Live-Action Akira Be Too High?

Fans of Akira love every aspect of the animated masterpiece. It is one of the most revered animated movies of all time, with sociopolitical commentary that’s still relevant today. The thrilling rush of adrenaline you feel when you watch the movie, and the realizations you have when pondering over it after the credits have rolled, are quite literally irreplaceable.

So, if a live-action remake of Akira were to ever be made, fans of the original, who would comprise the biggest part of the targeted audience, would naturally and rightfully have very high expectations of it, some possibly even refusing to watch it. It will perhaps always be a bad idea to make live-action adaptations of anime movies like Akira.