Anime You Didn't Know Have Upcoming Live Action Remakes

The bad reviews and disappointing returns posted by the 2017 live-action remake of Ghost in the Shell should serve as a stark reminder to Hollywood that adapting anime for the silver screen isn't as straightforward as most other mediums. The west has an incredibly poor record when it comes to remaking anime in its own image (nobody should ever have to sit through the comically bad 1995 live-action Fist of the North Star), yet despite the many setbacks over the years, studios are still determined to get it right—not out of pride or the urge to build cultural bridges, but because they recognize a goldmine when they see one.

While it certainly doesn't look as though it'll happen anytime soon, audiences will tire of superhero movies at some point, which will leave Hollywood in need of a new cherry tree to pick. The world of anime and manga (the comic-style publications most anime are based on) is just as in-depth as the American comic book universe, providing plenty of opportunities for new and potentially highly lucrative franchises. Keen to get ahead of the curve, a number of U.S. studios have anime adaptations in production right now—though as you're about to discover, Hollywood isn't the only movie industry determined to cash in on anime.

James Cameron is producing an adaptation of '90s cyberpunk classic Battle Angel Alita, which has been in the cards for some time. The Terminator director was first introduced to Yukito Kishiro's manga series by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro—who, knowing Cameron's body of work, thought he'd be interested in remaking it. Laeta Kalogridis (Terminator: Genisys) was brought on board to pen the script, and her knowledge of the property helped bring the remake to life.

"Laeta brought to our attention that there was much more to this world of Battle Angel than we ever knew," Cameron's co-producer Jon Landau admitted. "We were familiar with the anime that had been produced, we were familiar with one of the main books. But she opened us up to the other nine books that exist, and how rich that world is."

Robert Rodriguez has directed the picture (which has already wrapped and is on course for a July 2018 release, according to Empire) and it stars Maze Runner's Rosa Salazar as Alita, a cyborg who's recovered from a scrap heap by a cybernetics professor (Christoph Waltz) and rebuilt into a deadly bounty hunter. Michelle Rodriguez and Jennifer Connelly round out the supporting cast.

The Hollywood adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira has been in development hell for so long that it's almost become a thing of legend, though recent stirrings about the hunt for a new director have raised eyebrows again. News of a remake first broke in 2002, when Warner Bros. acquired the rights and brought Stephen Norrington (Blade) on board to direct. Norrington pledged to make a film that "preserves the tone, the visual and the epic scope of the original whilst telling a somewhat more accessible story," though he never got the chance, as production was put on hold. A mixture of script, casting and budget issues set it back over the next decade, and it was finally called off in 2012 with WB axing it as part of studio cutbacks.

Rumors that the studio were finally ready to take things forward with Akira began popping up again last year when Justin Lin was apparently in the frame to direct, though subsequent rumors placed Jordan Peele at the top of WB's wishlist. He ultimately passed on the project, but the studio is clearly motivated to make something happen.

Unlike many upcoming anime adaptations, Warner Bros.' Fullmetal Alchemist live-action remake is being shot with a Japanese cast speaking in its native tongue—which is a tad ironic (especially after the Ghost in the Shell controversy), considering the story's set in the fictional country of Amestris, which was loosely based on 19th century Europe, and features plenty of non-Japanese characters. "I want to create a style that follows the original manga as much as possible," said director Fumihiko Sori (who also helmed the live-action version of sports anime Ping Pong). "The cast is entirely Japanese, but the cultural background is Europe. However, it's a style that doesn't represent a specific race or country. There will never be a scene in which a character says something that would identify him/her as Japanese."

Reaction to live-action anime remakes in Japan has been much the same as it's been in the west—underwhelming. High-profile remakes of popular properties such as Assassination Classroom have failed to deliver on the hype and Japanese fans are fearing the worst for Fullmetal Alchemist (rated the second-best anime of all time on My Anime List), which is due out in December of 2017. The film will follow the plot of Hiromu Arakawa's original manga, which takes place in a world where alchemy exists and follows the plight of State Alchemists Edward and Alphonse Elric.

Speaking of Netflix, their anime game seems to be on point: their original series based on Gamon Sakurai's popular manga Ajin: Demi Human has been remade into a live-action movie in Japan. The film will follow the same plot as the anime and the manga before it, based on a young man named Kei Nagai who gets hit by a truck and comes back to life on the spot. He soon realizes he's what is known as an Ajin—an immortal demi-human. Before long he finds himself dragged into a war between the humans and the so-called mutants, lead by the revolutionary (or terrorist, depending on your perspective) Sato.

Due to be released across Japan in September of 2017, the Ajin movie will be directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro (Psycho Pass) and stars Takeru Satoh (who has played the title role in all three Japanese live-action adaptations of Rurouni Kenshin). Because of Satoh's age, protagonist Kei has been changed from a high schooler to a medical student in the film. The Asian A-lister has reunited with the action team he worked with on the Rurouni Kenshin movies, some of the most successful examples of anime being adapted to live-action at home in Japan.

Hajime Isayama's beautifully brutal manga Attack on Titan had a whopping 66 million copies in circulation as of April 2017, and that number is likely to rise if Warner Bros. can bring their planned live-action English language adaptation to fruition. The property (set in a fictional world in which humanity lives in a huge walled-off city, their last defense against the man-eating giant Titans) has already been adapted into a two-part movie in Japan, and while part one "holds up completely as its own work of art divorced from the source material," part two was bashed by critics and failed to match its predecessor at the box office. Despite this, Warner Bros. intends to remake these two films rather than adapt their own version directly from the original manga, according to Deadline.

Their exclusive report claims Warners is locked in negotiations over the remake rights, with Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts producer David Heyman said to be lined up to take charge of the project, though if it does come off, it's likely to be sidelined until Akira finally sees the light of day. If the studio fails to strike a deal over Attack on Titan, others will soon be lining up to make their own pitch and a Hollywood remake seems like merely a matter of time.