Here’s everything we know about the planned live-action Naruto movie. Starting out as a Shonen manga series from Masashi Kishimoto, Naruto is the story of a young ninja ostracized from his village due to a demonic fox housed inside the boy’s body. As Naruto Uzumaki’s tale progresses, he strives to overcome his unhappy fate and earn the respect and recognition of those around him, and he’s eventually elected as the leader of his homeland. The moral of the story, of course, being that people will learn to like you pretty quickly if you keep saving their lives. Naruto was soon adapted into an anime series, and this helped earn the franchise a passionate worldwide following, that it still enjoys today, despite the main series having already concluded.
As one of the premier anime exports in the West, Naruto is prime material for Hollywood adaptation, but it certainly isn’t the first Japanese property to attract international suitors. Dragon Ball Z gave rise to Dragonball Evolution, Scarlett Johansson starred in Ghost in the Shell and Netflix released a live-action version of Death Note. The common denominator between that trio of movies is a distinct lack of quality, but there remain a handful of Western anime productions in the pipeline, including the long-awaited Akira and Cowboy Bebop.
Who’s Involved In The Live-Action Naruto Movie?
It’s been almost 5 years since the Naruto movie was announced by Lionsgate, with the official reveal coming in mid-2015. Although details have been scarce, Avi Arad is set to produce through his own company. Arad is most widely associated with Sony’s Marvel releases (The Amazing Spider-Man, Venom, etc) and also worked on the aforementioned Ghost In The Shell. As well as giving the Naruto movie a sense of legitimacy, Arad’s involvement promised high-production values and polished action set-pieces.
Also among the production team is Eric Feig, a figure with a reputation for successful book-to-film adaptations whose portfolio includes Twilight and The Hunger Games. Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) is slated to direct. In terms of story and tone, little has been revealed about Naruto, but Kishimoto has confirmed he is being consulted about the adaptation, which is highly encouraging. The live-action Naruto screenplay is reportedly being written by Erich and Jon Hoeber (Red, The Meg), but there’s currently no sense of which actors might be involved.
What’s The Status Of The Live Action Naruto Movie?
The most recent update as to Naruto’s status came from Gracey himself in March 2018. Speaking with Collider, Gracey confirmed he was still interested in a cinematic visit to Konoha Village, despite the mega-success of The Greatest Showman. However, the director did stress that he wouldn’t continue the project without Kishimoto’s involvement and revealed that a script still hadn’t been finalized, with the future of the film dependent on finding a script everybody was happy with.
Unfortunately, that’s where the trail ends with regards to the Lionsgate Naruto movie. The lack of news for almost 2 years isn’t a promising sign and suggests that at least one of Gracey, Kishimoto or the studio aren’t happy with the scripts they’re seeing. In some cases, script troubles can take years to resolve, but a breakthrough is eventually found, as seen with Bill & Ted Face The Music, where everyone involved was so keen to write the best script possible, it took almost a decade to come up with something deemed worthy. Alternatively Naruto might go the way of Akira and languish in development hell for years to come.
Movie studios are generally stubborn beasts, and once they have the rights to a property, they like to see a return on that investment. This means a Hollywood Naruto adaptation is more a case of when and not if, even if Lionsgate have to find a new director or wait another 5 years to make that happen. The rise of streaming platforms perhaps also makes Naruto more likely, as these services provide an additional outlet for projects that aren’t guaranteed to make a profit with a theatrical release. Whether or not a Naruto movie should be made is a different matter altogether.
More: Naruto: What Happens To The Konoha 11 After The Series Ends
