RANT: The live-action version of 'Akira' is moving forward! [again..]

Have you ever watched a movie that you loved so much, that you were afraid of hearing of a remake, or a 're-imagining' of a film so much- that when you heard of it actually coming true; you got upset. that is pretty much what I'm going into with this post. [so mild to heavy rant warning:] As clearly noted by my Letterboxd page, I've seen a fair share of films. Anything from horror [which, let's be honest; is 90% of the movies I watch] to animation. One particular anime that I absolutely adore is 'Akira'. From creepy body mutations, to that very special bike: Akira will always hold a special place in my heart [and my DVD shelf]. However, as Hollywood has a notorious habit of doing lately, Akira- the comic turned into an anime- is soon [as in 'eventually'] going to become: Akira- the comic turned into an anime, turned live-action.. I know, I'm not amused either; but trust me, somehow this news gets worse. How so? read on after the jump.

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It seems that a live-action American-ized adaptation of Akira has been a movie project that has been stalled, died, and been resurrected more times than Superman did in the comicbooks, and that's not all: because this remake of the classic film holds such controversial topics like likely using white actors over the original characters being Asian [apparenly Hollywood is even threatening to change Tetsuo's name to Travis?!], sources even claim that Noe-Toyko will become Neo-Manhattan?! This is getting fucking ridiculous! I mean, I'm Canadian, but I find this could even go over as being culturally insensitive- I can only imagine how offended people are going to be when they realize everything isn't what Akira is supposed to be.. Do we really already forget what happened when America made live-action versions of Avatar: The Last Airbender or even Dragonball:Evolution? Those films were scoffed at, tossed aside- all because it felt like the source material wasn't even looked at.. plus with the way Akira is as a whole, there's going to be so much CGI needed that I fear it's just going to look bad. [at this rate, this unnecessary remake may as well be animated]

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Oddly enough, Variety is currently reporting that Jaume Collet-Serra [the guy who directed the 2005 remake of House Of Wax: y'know, that one with Paris Hilton. No, I didn't like it either.] is currently set to direct this version of Akira, with a Spring 2014 production start date being planned. [feels so soon, doesn't it?] Serra was originally attached to Akira and was supposed to direct back in 2011, but he then soon left the project after Warner Bros refused to give him the 'go ahead' because of his proposed $90 million budget. So I guess the only thing we really know about this live-action/remake/questionable film  is that it's starting production this Spring; and that hopefully it turns out half decent- I am worried though, because Hollywood already ruined Avatar & Dragonball, which I grew up loving- and now Akira.. I suppose time will tell. What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments.

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