Live-action adaptations of the biggest manga and anime series seem the rave today. After Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece, the live-action movie adaptation of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto is allegedly back in development with The Witcher: Blood Origin scriptwriter Tasha Huo.
This isn’t the first time that a live-action Naruto movie is said to be in development. In fact, it was first announced in 2015, with Lionsgate signing director Michael Gracey, who did The Greatest Showman, at the helm. However, eight years have passed, and the film did not come to fruition until the known leaker Daniel Richtman gave an update about it.
In a post on Patreon, Richtman revealed that Naruto is back in development at Lionsgate. In fact, he claimed Huo, who’s also behind Red Sonja, had already done the film's latest draft after the works made by Jonathan Levine. The draft was said to be written before the WGA Writer Strike.
The Works Done for Naruto Live-Action Movie
Since the live-action movie adaptation of Naruto was announced, several works have been done for this project. Back in 2017, The Hollywood Reporter revealed Jon and Erich Hoeber would be rewriting the film’s script. It would also be produced by Avi Arad through his Arad Productions banner.
Come 2018, Gracey gave an update about the movie in an interview with Collider. With the failure of several live-action adaptations in the past, like Ghost in the Shell and Death Note, the filmmaker said he wanted to work directly with the series creator Kishimoto to get things right.
“I wanted to actually work with Kishimoto and get a script to a stage where he would look at it and be excited about realizing it,” he explained. “Because no one knows the world better than the person who created it.”
Back then, Gracey confirmed that they were still working on the script and wanted it to be at the level that he would be excited about. The visual effects artist stressed he had no plans to destroy a franchise as big as Naruto, but as he revealed everyone involved was on the same page, there might be something good happening.
In addition, in 2020, Richtman revealed on Patreon the alleged casting call for Naruto. The film was said to be looking for two Asian males and one female between the ages of 14 and 18, and they were presumably to play the roles of the leads Uzumaki, Sasuke, and Sakura. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic began at the time, the process was reportedly stopped.
So far, Lionsgate, Gracey, and Huo have yet to confirm Ritchman’s claim about these new developments about Naruto. But as this Twitter influencer’s leaks sometimes get it right, fans remain hopeful.
