As was rumored several months ago by the fine freaks at Bloody Disgusting, Irish director Ruairi Robinson will be bringing Katsuhiro Ôtomo’s post-apocalyptic AKIRA from printed page and animation cel to human and CGI life. Warner Bros. plans to turn the seemingly endless manga series into two live-action features, the first of which is due in Summer 2009. The new flick reportedly shifts the setting to a devastated and reconstructed Manhattan.
Director Steve Norrington (BLADE, LXG) was involved in the project years ago before he entered semi-retirement and the property went into limbo. Robinson, who is making his feature debut, reportedly landed the job based on his impressive dystopic sci-fi short THE SILENT CITY, which you can watch RIGHT HERE.
AKIRA follows a gang of superbike-riding pill-eating teens (these kids love pills so much, they wear clothing with pictures of pills on them, delicious pills) who roam the futuristic roads fighting with rivals and screaming a lot. One of the members gets caught up in a government experiment and develops psychic powers, leading to a massive destructive battle with the gang’s leader.