The live-action adaptation of the anime classic Akira is on indefinite hold, according to a report from Variety.
Sources have told Variety that with attached director Taika Waititi stepping away to focus on Thor 4, the movie is on hold. Akira has been subject to one setback after another. Waititi has been interviewing actors to play the principal roles in the film, which was the cause of the most recent delay, but not the first. The movie has been in development for years, with director Jaume Collet-Serra having been attached back in 2012.
Akira has been a troubled production for years, and this indefinite hold is one of the few times many movie fans are breathing out a sigh of relief. Ghost in the Shell hit theaters with a thud back in 2017 with Scarlett Johansson starring in the primary role. Waititi set out to correct that movie’s mistake by casting Japanese actors in the main roles of Akira, but like Ghost in the Shell, Akira‘s story is deeply connected to Japanese culture in ways that make it a very difficult adaptation.
While Waititi’s departure isn’t necessarily dropping him from the film, that combined with the movie being put on indefinite hold seems to suggest that we may have heard the last of Akira.
