Even when 2017 comes to a close one of the most talked-about movies of the year will be GET OUT. The horror/thriller surprised everyone by maintaining 99% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and as of this writing is closing in on $150 million at the domestic box office. Director Jordan Peele is the first African American director to have a $100 million debut, so naturally his talent is making him a hot commodity. Apparently Warner Bros. is so anxious to get into the Peele business that they’re reportedly looking to give him one of their biggest properties – AKIRA.
The Tracking Board is reporting that Warner Bros. is “moving aggressively” to sign Peele to the project after the immense success of GET OUT. WB has yet to comment on the matter, but the report also mentions they might have also been looking at him to direct THE FLASH. Though that card could supposedly still be on the table, AKIRA is the film the studio wants the budding director to tackle with talks being "encouraging."
Either way you spin it it looks like WB is looking to give Peele something big to direct, with AKIRA being the number one choice. GET OUT was a big success by any standard, but given the modest budget and subject matter it’s triumph is all the more sweet. WB probably isn’t the only studio looking at Peele, so if all of this is true we can expect news of his involvement to become official relatively soon.
But until such a time when all of this is confirmed all we can do is imagine what a Peele AKIRA would look like. Purely as a director I think Peele is up to the task, mainly because I don’t think he’s the kind of man to go into something without a clear, distinct vision. Between KEY AND PEELE, GET OUT and even KEANU he comes across as a guy who knows exactly what he wants to do and how to make it unique. That’s step one in making any great movie, so having that in the bag with AKIRA is reassuring.
GET OUT could very well still be at a theater near you, and the latest anime live-action remake, GHOST IN THE SHELL, arrives tomorrow.