Well that didn’t take long. Warner Bros. has announced an indefinite shut down on Akira, the live-action remake of the acclaimed Japanese animated film. The production offices based out of Vancouver have been told to send the cast and crew back home, as production has been suspended for budgetary reasons.
The news comes less than three months after it was announced that the film, long in development hell, would finally be greenlit. Tron: Legacy star Garrett Hedlund was later announced as the film’s star, and negotiations to sign Kristen Stewart, Helena Bonham Carter and Ken Watanabe had reportedly been ongoing.
The film has been through three directors already, with Jaume Collet-Serra (Unkown, Orphan) picking up where Albert Hughes (The Book of Eli) left off. His hiring also saw the budget slashed in from $180 million down to $90 million. Now Collet-Serra will be meeting with producers to try and drop that further, with sources stating the new goal is between, $60 and $70 million.
The Hollywood Reporter also has conflicting insider information that states the script, doctored recently by “Harry Potter” scribe Steve Kloves, is what’s actually responsible for the shutdown. Sources are still optimistic, stating the adaptation of the groundbreaking 1988 anime has been “a very resilient movie,” and that “Warner Bros. just won’t let it die.”