Merrick here...
Mike over at JoBlo has some interesting insight into the status of the live-action AKIRA movie that has refused to come together so far.
Not too long ago, we learned that Keanu Reeves was in early talks to star in the picture (details HERE). JoBlo is now saying that not only has Keanu officially passed on the project, but...
Early Thursday morning, some time after receiving word from Reeves' reps that he would be passing on the project, Warner Bros. shut down AKIRA's pre-viz department and most of the staff that was working on the film was let go. While it may be easy to draw conclusions when you see both events taking place in the same week, I'm told that one has nothing to do with the other.
All per THIS piece at JoBlo.
This statement from Warners attempts to further clarify what's happening at the moment.
"Production on ‘Akira’ has not halted or been shut down, as the film has not yet been greenlit and is still very much in the development stage. The exploratory process is crucial to a project of this magnitude, and we will continue to sculpt our approach to making the best possible film."
A while back I encountered a similarly worded statement from a different studio (Sony) addressing purported troubles on Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN 4 - that picture fully imploded a week or two later. I am in no way asserting the same thing will happen with AKIRA...just making an observation...
JUMP TO JOBLO for more on the matter.
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