Filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton is set to continue his collaboration with Sony after this year's blockbuster Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Sony has landed the global distribution rights for Cretton's live-action film based on Masashi Kishimoto’s manga series Naruto. The company will also co-finance the film, which has been in development at Lionsgate since 2024 February. It is worth noting that Lionsgate has the US distribution rights for the Naruto film.
Production on the film is expected to commence at some point of the March-June period, coinciding with the Spring season in the USA, reports Deadline.
Naruto tells the story of a socially isolated and spirited young ninja hailing from the fictional Hidden Leaf Village, also known as Konohagakure. Reportedly, Kishimoto’s manga series has sold over 250 million copies around the world. There is already an anime adaptation of the manga, which has extended its reach to viewers in over 145 nations and territories worldwide.
According to reports, Kishimoto is also closely associated with the live-action project. It is set to be backed by Avi Arad, Ari Arad, and Emmy Yu under the Arad Productions banner along with Jeyun Munford and Cretton himself for Hisako.
The filmmaker is fresh from the success of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, starring Tom Holland and Zendaya, which has become the third highest-grossing film of all time with a global box office gross collection of approximately $2.5 billion. Only Avengers: Endgame and Avatar are ahead of Cretton's film on the list of the highest-grossing films of all time. However, at the US box office, it holds the record for being the highest-grosser ever. The humongous success of the film made Tom Holland the highest-grossing actor of all time.
The upcoming film brings Cretton back together with Lionsgate after collaborations on 2017's The Glass Castle, written and directed by him, and the same year's The Shack, for which he co-wrote the screenplay.
