'Naruto' Live Action Adaptation News: Production in the Works
Lionsgate Films is currently in negotiations to acquire the adaptation rights to the anime Japanese anime "Naruto," which it reportedly wants to turn it into a live action movie. Lionsgate seems to be confident that it will get the rights, as they have already signed on a director for the said movie.
Variety reported that the studio has signed on Michael Gracey, who is known for his work as visual effects artist and supervisor in some feature films. He has shifted to directing recently, with some of his films still unreleased such as "Daughter of Bone and Smoke," the biopic of Elton John and another biopic of P.T. Barnum.
Arad Productions is said to be taking care of the production side. The company is owned by Avi Arad, who was the former Marvel boss under whom the "Spider-Man" movies was made. His son Ari Arad will also be one of the producers. Overseeing for Lionsgate will be Erik Feig, Geoff Shaveitz and Kelly O'Malley.
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"Naruto" is a Japanese anime series that was based on a manga series of the same title. The manga series sold over 200 million copies in print. The TV series started in 2002 and ran until 2007. It became very popular in Japan and had 220 episodes. It was eventually subtitled in English and was aired in North America, Australia and the UK from 2005 to 2012. A sequel to the first series called "Naruto: Shippuden" was aired starting 2007. Ten movies animated movies have been made based on the series.
It follows a young teen-aged ninja named Naruto Uzumaki, as he tries to gain recognition in order to become his village's "Hokage," the strongest ninja of all, who is recognized as the leader by the rest of the village. The series was created and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto.
