Movies
Keanu Passes On ‘Akira’, Pre-Viz Halted
Even though he has a strong relationship with Warner Bros. by way of the The Matrix franchise, Keanu Reeves has officially passed on the role of Kaneda in the live-action Akira film, based on the 1988 landmark anime and six-volume manga, reports JoBlo.
The project has been in development hell for years and has had numerous big names circling it – James Franco, Brad Pitt, Joseph Gordon-Levitt to name a few – but none have ultimately signed on to the Albert Hughes helmed sci-fi flick, whose budget has swelled to an estimated $140 million. WB must’ve really been saddened by Keanu passing on the role, because they shut down the pre-viz department and let go most of the staff working on the film afterwards.
They still claim to be in the adaptation business, saying “Production on `Akira’ has not halted or been shut down, as the film has not yet been greenlit and is still very much in the development stage. The exploratory process is crucial to a project of this magnitude, and we will continue to sculpt our approach to making the best possible film.”
Regardless of the spin the studio will try to put on this, the facts are these: With word of even more possible rewrites to lower the budget (which soared much higher than WB expected), Akira is going to limp to its death unless an outside studio steps in to co-produce or an A-list actor jumps on board – and fast. They can tinker all they want, but Akira is huge in scope. Unless WB decides to visually represent the physical manifestation of Akira as a storm cloud (I’m looking at you, Rise Of The Silver Surfer) and film it in suburbia, I can’t imagine the film costing less than $100 million.
Woah, in the future I have a career!
Movies
Duffer Brothers Directing Untitled Event Film for Paramount Theatrical Release in November 2028
We had learned last summer that “Stranger Things” creators Matt and Ross Duffer were setting up shop at Paramount, with the brothers leaving Netflix behind to make theatrical movies for the big screen. The Duffer Brothers had inked an exclusive four-year deal with the studio, and very early news about their first feature film project has dropped this afternoon.
Deadline reports today that an untitled “event film” from writer/directors Matt and Ross Duffer will be released in theaters by Paramount on November 3, 2028.
Literally nothing is known about the project at this time. Stay tuned for more.
We had learned last year that the four-year deal with Paramount would allow the brothers to develop film, TV, and streaming projects, with a particular focus on large theatrical movies.
The projects will be developed under their Upside Down Pictures banner.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to be joining the Paramount family. David, Josh [Greenstein], and Dana [Goldberg] are passionate about bringing bold, original films to the big screen. To be part of that mission is not just exciting — it’s the fulfillment of a lifelong dream,” Matt and Ross Duffer said in a statement last year. “To do so at a studio with such a storied Hollywood legacy is a privilege we don’t take lightly. We’re also excited to reunite with our friends Cindy and Matt, who were among the very first to believe in us and an unusual little script we wrote that became Stranger Things. They took a chance on us in 2015, and they’re taking a chance again — we can’t wait to create new stories together.”
Their statement continued, “Our time at Netflix has been incredible. Ted [Sarandos], Bela [Bajaria], and Peter [Friedlander] have given us the kind of creative freedom and support that artists dream of but so rarely receive. A decade in, they are family. We’re excited to continue collaborating — not only on Stranger Things 5, but also on shows we’re deeply proud to be producing, including Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen and The Boroughs. And we look forward to building out the future of Stranger Things together — there are many more stories to tell beyond Hawkins, and we can’t wait to share them.”
“Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen” and “The Boroughs” are now streaming on Netflix.