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Warner Brothers to Produce Live-Action Ninja Scroll (Updated)
posted on by Egan Loo
The Variety entertainment news source reports that Warner Brothers and Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way production company have acquired the live-action adaptation rights for Yoshiaki Kawajiri's Ninja Scroll action anime film from the Madhouse anime studio. Kawajiri wrote this tale about a wandering ninja fighting a conspiracy of demons, and he also directed the original anime with ultraviolent yet fluid animation. Alex Tse (Watchmen, The Illustrated Man) is slated to write the live-action version, but DiCaprio himself is not planning on acting in the film. Appian Way's Jennifer Davisson Killoran and Mike Ireland will produce with Madhouse itself.
Warner and Appian Way have already acquired the rights to produce two live-action films based on Katsuhiro Ōtomo's Akira manga. Killoran is also planning to produce the Akira project as well.
Manga Entertainment released the original 1993 Ninja Scroll anime film in North America, while Urban Vision helped produce and later released the 2003 television series adapation. The American publisher WildStorm created its comic book take on the story in 2006. Madhouse revealed at Anime Expo 2008 that it was still planning a sequel to the original anime film.
Update: Background information on Warner Brothers, Appian Way, and Ninja Scroll added.
Image © 1993 Yoshiaki Kawajiri/Mad House/JVC/Toho Co., LTD./Movic Inc.
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