One of science fiction's most anticipated adaptations has finally gotten its own movie trailer: live-action Akira is here.
But don't get too excited, this trailer doesn't have a full-length movie to back it up, and was produced by fans instead of a Hollywood studio.
The Akira Project was launched via IndieGoGo back in 2012 to fund an unofficial trailer for a live-action adaptation of the classic 1988 Japanese anime title directed by Katsuhiro Otomo (who also created the manga comic the film was based on). The original Indiegogo funding campaign stalled at just $3,428 of a $7,500 goal, but in terms of production value, the brief video does a fair job of showing what some of the anime film's classic scenes might look like in real life.
For the uninitiated, Akira tells the story of Tetsuo Shima, a Japanese teenager who struggles to cope with incredibly powerful psychic abilities. The story, set in 2019, also includes wild biker gangs, secret government-made mutants and enough psychedelic imagery to make the film essential viewing for the art alone.
Although the trailer, directed by Montreal, Quebec-based director Nguyen-Anh Nguyen, has all the signs of a full-length movie, the video was only ever designed to show off brief glimpses of "what could be."
We get to see the iconic red motorcycle ridden by Kaneda and his cohorts as they travel through the dystopian streets of Neo-Tokyo, as well as the beginning stages of Tetsuo's "psychic explosion" that levels part of the city.
From the special effects, to the acting and the camera work, the trailer's scenes aren't likely to be mistaken for a big budget feature, but the team's efforts are polished enough to serve as a tantalizing look at some of what Akira fans can expect when Hollywood finally makes the live-action version of the title.
Talk of putting a live-action version of the animated film on screen has floated around Hollywood for years. Warner Bros. snapped up the rights to the film back in 2002, but the buzz around the project fizzled out until 2008, when reports indicated that Leonardo DiCaprio might finally produce the film for a 2009 release.
In the following years, the project passed through a number of hands, with several major directors and actors attached to the production.
As of August, director Jaume Collet-Serra was slated to direct the film for Warner, but despite his apparent enthusiasm, we still don't have a release date for the film. So, in the meantime, the Akira Project's three-minute trailer just might do the trick.
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