Naruto is one of the most popular manga and anime series of all time, yet unlike most of its peers, the series has still curiously gone without a live-action adaptation. Beloved by millions of fans across the world, Naruto centers on the тιтular hero, Naruto Uzumaki, a young ambitious ninja harboring a powerful fox spirit who dreams of rising through the ranks of ninja society to become a great Hokage leader. The expansive story is separated into the original run, Naruto Shippuden, which goes over Naruto’s teenage years, and Bortuo, set decades later with Naruto’s son as the protagonist.

Naruto sits in an esteemed Mount Rushmore alongside other manga series with their own anime adaptations that dominated the shōnen anime genre in the 2000s, referred to as the “big three”, with its other two peers being One Piece and Bleach. Unlike those two, however, Naruto has somehow never received an official live-action adaptation, despite its outrageous popularity. Of course, even the best live-action anime adaptations usually fall far short of the mastery of their source material, but Naruto does seem particularly suited to a recreation that uses traditional filmmaking.

Naruto Was Better Suited To A Live-Action Adaptation Than One Piece Or Bleach

Which Makes It All The Stranger It’s The Big Three Manga To Not Have One

Bleach was the first of the big three to get a live-action adaptation with the 2018 movie of the same name. Like the majority of live-action anime films, Bleach was produced in Japan, though under the watchful care of Warner Brothers. The film largely regulates its events to the first arc of the manga, which introduces protagonist Ichigo to the world of Soul Reapers and the monstrous Hollows that they hunt. Ending there played against the strengths of Bleach, as the most cinematic moments of the early story only happen soon afterward in the Soul Society Arc.

More recently, Netflix has seen success against all odds in the Herculean undertaking of adapting Once Piece for live-action, despite the series’ particular cartoonishness even for a manga. A serialized episodic format and a more faithful story to the source material has done Netflix’s One Piece wonders in comparison to the Bleach movie. That being said, huge swaths of One Piece’s story have to be cut for time, as the infamously long-running manga simply has so much ground to cover.

Comparatively, Naruto seems far better-suited to a live-action adaptation than either of the big three that already have gotten one. While the series has similarly spectacular magical elements that wear heavily on any budget, the relative importance of martial arts in Naruto compared to One Piece or Bleach means that thoughtful fight choreography can make up for expensive CGI better. The infamous filler episodes of Naruto also flag obvious spots in the story to cut, meaning that there’s far less to worry about in terms of sidelining important moments or plot beats in the inevitable trimming down of the story.

What’s Going On With The Planned Live-Action Naruto Movie?

Naruto Is Close To Finally Realizing Its Live-Action Potential

Though a live-action adaptation of Naruto hasn’t happened quite yet, plans are certainly in the works. Currently, a feature film is in development at Lionsgate Studios, spearheaded by Destin Daniel Cretton of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings fame as writer, director, and producer. Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, is also directly involved, meaning that the upcoming Naruto movie will likely avoid the common pitfalls that befall so many Hollywood anime adaptations.

That being said, there are concerns that the scope and budget of Lionsgate’s typical blockbusters will be able to do the Naruto series justice, and Destin Daniel Cretton has faced scrutiny in his literary adaptation of The Glᴀss Castle once already. Not only that, but the script languished in development hell before being finalized in 2024, meaning that the future of the film is still far from certain, with no public production dates, let alone a release date. Still, if there’s one big three 2000s anime that could truly knock it out of the park in live-action, it’s Naruto.