Variety beaks some huge news this morning with a report that Warner Bros. Pictures’ long-awaited adaptation of Akira has received an $18.5 million tax credit from the California Film Commission!
Akira, based on a manga series written and illustrated by Katsuhiro Otama and set in a post-apocalyptic 2060 Tokyo, will generate an estimated $92 million in qualified spending. This figure includes $43 million in wages to 200 below-the-line crew members and more than 5,000 extras/stand-ins. The project is scheduled to film entirely in California over the course of 71 filming days.
Leonardo DiCaprio is producing Akira with Jennifer Davisson through their Appian Way company. The film will be adapted from the Japanese source material and move the story to a rebuilt New Manhattan where a leader of a biker gang saves his friend from a medical experiment.
Having seen his name floated around in the past in connection to the project, What We Do in the Shadows and Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi is supposedly still on-board to helm the adaptation.
Reportedly, two films are intended to be adapted from the three books in the series. The classic manga was first adapted back in 1988.
Stay tuned for more updates!
