There's been no more troubled production on the planet than Warner Brothers' planned live-action take on Akira. Nobody wanted to see the manga/anime classic remade in the first place, and now they may just get their wish. THR is reporting the Vancouver production offices for the film have been shut down while the budget goes under the scalpel yet again.
From the very beginning it looked like Akira was never meant to be. Albert Hughes and Warner Brothers openly warred over the casting, with the director wanting to name whoever he felt was best and the studio wanting an A-lister to justify the $200M budget. Hughes eventually left, to be replaced by Jaume Collet-Serra, and Steve Kloves came in to fine tune the script. The budget hacked down to $90M, Garrett Hedlund was the first out of like two dozen people to sign on the dotted line. In recent weeks it looked like smooth sailing, as Ken Watanabe, Gary Oldman, Kristen Stewart, and Helena Bonham Carter were said to be circling roles. Even with those names, Warner Brothers feels the budget is still too high, and wants to slash another $20M-$30M.
I'm calling it now, Akira is dead in the water. Warner Brothers has been tightening their belts for months now. This comes at a time when the studio lost Steven Soderbergh from The Man From U.N.C.L.E. partially over the final budget; put a halt to David Dobkin's Arthur & Lancelot; and just recently threw Alex Proyas' bloated Paradise Lost into jeopardy.
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