If otakus ever started seriously betting on which major manga/anime franchise will actually make good on all this big "Hollywood remake" talk... well... the pool would probably go on for years, and the cash pot would grow large enough to buy all the noodles in Tokyo.
AKIRA? DEATH NOTE? Can you believe that the latest title to potentially put your money behind in this hypothetical horse race is none other than BLEACH? Variety’s reported that the topselling title’s getting its time in the development machine, with regular Happy Madison director Peter Segal looking to produce (and possibly direct) a script by WRATH OF THE TITANS co-writer Dan Mazeau.
Interestingly enough, Warner Bros is the studio that's got this rodeo rolling. Why’s that interesting? Well, they were just recently trying to put together the AKIRA remake so, clearly, there's got to be at least one serious otaku lurking in their executive offices. (Also, they put GREEN LANTERN out last year and it's real easy to explain the Soul Society to the uninitiated as a "Green Lantern Corps of the after-life.")
Do the deathly adventures of Ichigo have any hope of faithful translation here? Will mainstream Americans ever be able to accept Hollows into their hearts? Discuss and debate as you see fit in the talkback below.
Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here. Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk
It's actually quite funny that Bleach seems to be the first one going, since Kubo said he didn't believe it COULD be made into a movie. Now it's up to the studio to prove him wrong I guess.
This CAN be done right, with the right people. I think the most important part is to have everyone involved watch Dragonball: Evolution, and NOT DO THAT. Whoever plays the lead needs to first and foremost be a good actor, and secondly not have the world's entire supply of hair gel fused to his scalp (surely despite the first thoughts of the directors). Despite everything else, these two things could make a Bleach movie a decent movie.
Action would be nice too.
Some anime's should just be anime.
The only person I think could handle it is Zack Snyder or someone equally flashy. I think Bleach only works if it's as over the top and stylized as the anime is. If it looks wild and over the top I think people can instantly buy into the power up and craziness and you don't have to waste time trying to do some character study on the Scoobies before you get to what actually makes Bleach good.
Dear God, please let something of this caliber be birthed by this project.
@JonSmith said:
damn, you beat me to it.
This wont work, not in a thousand years....
Leave live-actions of anime to the japanese, things like the Gantz movies, show us that they dont need help to butcher their own culture, or Casshern.
XD
Actually Bleach is one of the few anime series of this type where I could see them making a movie and not totally messing it up. I think the soul society rescue arc could be managed in two hours if you cut all the crap out of it. End with the Aizen cliffhanger or something.
AND THEN NEVER MAKE ANOTHER BLEACH MOVIE AGAIN BECAUSE MAN THE AIZEN SAGA IS THE WORST.
Uhhhh...I'm not sure how this would work. Bleach is humans fighting humans most of the time or the monsters. Not the sword play can work vs monsters but with the other actors? There's only so many cuts a person can make and have before it looks stupid.
All Segal has done are comedies, right? What the hell is he doing with this? Wrath of the Titans writer is fine because it doesn't take much to move a plot of Bleach.
But I don't think Bleach would work well as a live-action. There is just too much material in shounen franchises.
@Nightwolf: I'd say some anime's shouldn't even be anime's....but to each their own.
This can only go badly.
I imagine this will also join Akira in development hell. Outside of that terrible DBZ movie, no one seems to be able to get these anime/manga based movies done in Hollywood. Rather have a movie version of the Japanese musical of Bleach.
I'll probably completely ignore this, but even if they butcher it (which is very possible), at least get the dub cast to voice-over the whole thing. Having the characters without the voices that people recognize would be the dumbest mistake that Warner Brothers could make in my opinion.
I think the directer should be M.Night Shyamalan, but I don't really care at this point
seriously.....who would think this is a good idea?? WHO??? have we already forgotten the lil anime movie that couldn't?
Hollywood, leave Anime/Manga ALONE!!!!!