Akira was never truly dead, though, and it appears WB is ready to pick up right where they left off. Variety reports that Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan) is in talks to direct, returning to the project he had been attached to before it went into limbo. A skyrocketing budget was another factor in the previous incarnation's demise, and the studio continued to seek less expensive options, even considering Catfish duo Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost for the directing gig, which would have been a truly heinous decision. It sounds like the storyline that was in place before is still intact, basing the story on the first three books in Katsuhiro Otomo's manga series. The setting will be transplanted to New Manhattan rather than Neo-Tokyo, and the most recent plot breakdown released during casting had Kaneda as a bar owner rather than a biker gang leader, who joins with an underground movement to rescue his telekinetic brother Tatsuo from the government, who plan to use him as a weapon.
It's unclear if Hedlund is still on board or if they'll start over fresh. Collet-Serra just wrapped on the Liam Neeson thriller Non-Stop, and is readying his next Neeson flick, Run All Night. Once that's done he'll jump straight into Akira, possibly by next spring, meaning we could see the film by 2015.
