Naruto live-action movie has a Marvel connection at Lionsgate
Naruto live-action film lands production banner and Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton.
Live-action adaptations of manga and anime narratives have taken the world by storm, mostly with negative waves drowning out the noise. With Netflix's One Piece series as the only positively honoured live-action anime title in sight, Lionsgate now plans to tap another one of the most famed mangas of all time - Naruto.
Ditching the small-screen OTT route as many previous releases of its kind, the Naruto movie will be heading to the big screen. Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton, who also co-wrote the superhero movie, has boarded the ship to helm the upcoming adaptation.
He'll be joining Jeyun Munford in the producer team. Avi Arad, Ari Arad, Emmy Yu (Arad Productions), and Jeremy Latcham will also play pivotal roles in the production process. This lot isn't a stranger to ambitious adaptations, either. The Arad Productions crew is behind the forthcoming video game adaptation Borderlands, while Latcham is known for the Dungeons & Dragons movie.
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More on the Naruto live-action movie
Masashi Kishimoto originally penned the coming-of-age storyline. He has now passed on his blessings to Cretton and believes him to be the “perfect director for Naruto." Kishimoto sees through his forte “in creating solid dramas about people”. Upon their meeting, the manga creator was further convinced of Cretton's open-mindedness and strongly felt they “would be able to cooperate together in the production process” (The Hollywood Reporter).
The Naruto film has been in development since late 2015. Lionsgate and Cretton go back too, as he previously joined forces with the studio for the 2017 Brie Larson starrer drama, The Glass Castle.
Regarding Cretton's credits, he's also working on the Shang-Chi sequel and has even directed some episodes of the Disney+ series American Born Chinese. That, too, is an adaptation of a graphic novel (created by Gene Luen Yang).
