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Warner Bros. has announced the long-planned Akira live-action movie is actually happening, as it now has a premiere date.
The Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, The Mandalorian, etc) directed film is set to premiere on May 21st of 2021, the same premiere date as the recently confirmed John Wick 4. Leonardo DiCaprio is producing the film under his Appian Way Productions studio, alongside Andrew Lazar.
Here’s a synopsis on the original 1982 manga, which the classic anime movie (and now live action film) are based on:
Welcome to Neo-Tokyo, built on the ashes of a Tokyo annihilated by a blast of unknown origin that triggered World War III. The lives of two streetwise teenage friends, Tetsuo and Kaneda, change forever when paranormal abilities begin to waken in Tetsuo, making him a target for a shadowy agency that will stop at nothing to prevent another catastrophe like the one that leveled Tokyo. At the core of the agency’s motivation is a raw, all-consuming fear of an unthinkable, monstrous power known only as Akira.