After a long period of being in limbo, the live-action adaptation of the Naruto has been officially confirmed to go into production.
Lionsgate, the studio behind the project, has tapped Destin Daniel Cretton, who is best known for his role in the Marvel movie “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” directed as well as wrote the script for the upcoming live-action Naruto film.
Joining Cretton in bringing Naruto to life are producers Jeyun Munford, Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Emmy Yu.
Masashi Kishimoto, mangaka of Naruto, expressed his enthusiasm for Destin’s involvement in the film, stating “When I heard about Destin’s involvement, it happened to be right after watching an action movie blockbuster, and I thought he would be the perfect director for Naruto. After watching his other films and understanding that his forte is creating great human dramas, I am convinced that there is no other director for Naturo. When I actually met Destin, I also found him to be an open-minded director who was willing to accept my input and felt strongly that we could work together on the production process. .“
In a previous update, it was revealed that Tasha Huo will serve as the scriptwriter for the film.
Lionsgate announced the development of a live-action film with Avi Arad through his production company Arad Productions in July 2015.
On December 17, 2016, Kishimoto announced that he had been asked to cooperate in developing the film.
Naruto is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It was serialized in Shueisha’s Shonen Jump manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump from September 1999 to November 2014, with the chapters collected into 72 tankobon volumes.
The story is told in two parts: the first part is set before Naruto’s teenage years (episodes 1–27) and the second part in his teenage years (episodes 28–72).
The series is based on two one-shot manga series by Kishimoto: Karakuri (1995) et Naruto (1997).
Part I of the manga was adapted into a 220-episode television series by Pierrot and Aniplex from October 2002 to February 2007 on TV Tokyo. The second series, adapting content from Part II of the manga, is titled Naruto: Shippuden and aired on TV Tokyo for 500 episodes from February 2007 to March 2017.
Source: Hollywood Reporter