American Akira film buried after 20+ years of development hell

The planned American feature film based on the iconic manga and anime Akira has officially stalled out after more than two decades in limbo. Warner Bros. had held the rights since 2002, but the project repeatedly got stuck in pre-production.

Over the years, a revolving door of screenwriters and directors have been attached to the film - including Taika Waititi, who in May 2019 was set to both direct and adapt all six volumes of the manga. But due to other commitments, Akira was pushed aside - not least in favour of the flop known as Thor: Love and Thunder. Great call there.

Since then, the Akira project has been regularly rumoured to be close to a fresh start, but no official or concrete announcements ever materialized. By the end of 2019, Warner decided to quietly remove the film from its release slate entirely.

As of June this year, the rights have expired and reverted back to the Japanese publisher Kodansha. That means the project can now officially be considered dead and buried - at least in its previous form. New players may still have the chance to strike a deal with Kodansha and try to revive Akira once more.