Taika Waititi’s live-action Akira movie to go on floors in July

After years spent in limbo, it seems like Akira is going to get its due finally. With director Taika Waititi on board to oversee the live-action adaptation, reports suggest that the film will go on floors this July.

A live-action film based on the well-known anime has been in development for several years, and has seen directors such as Jordan Peele, George Miller, Christopher Nolan, and Justin Lin, either be rumored to helm or pass on the project. Eventually, Akira went to Waititi, who initially entered talks in September 2017, a couple of months before his Thor: Ragnarok became one of the blockbusters of the year.

Since then, Akira has remained in development while Waititi worked on other projects such as his World War II dark comedy-drama Jojo Rabbit (slated for release this October) and an episode for The Mandalorian, the space-opera TV-series on Disney+. Recently, things started to pick up on the Akira front, with the film getting a synopsis, revealing key differences from the original anime.