We’ve gone a long way since Dragon Ball: Evolution, and we’re starting to get some well-regarded anime live-action adaptations after One Piece and the recent Avatar: The Last Airbender. One other massive anime property from the 00s was Naruto, and it looks like it’s next in line for the live-action treatment.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) has been hired to write and direct a live-action adaptation of the hit anime Naruto. We don’t have much details on where that story will go, but I imagine that it’s going to be another origin film which will be a good jumping off point for fans who aren’t familiar with the IP.
For context, Naruto was a manga that launched back in 1999 from author Masashi Kishimoto and it pretty much dominated the anime pop-culture sphere until it ended in 2014.
The story follows a young ninja in training Naruto Uzumaki as he trains hard to fight other enemy ninjas in a quest to become the next Hokage–the leader of his village.
Also, there’s a demonic 9-tailed fox sealed inside of him which gives him crazy powers, but he’s also a goofball and gets into shenanigans with his other ninja friends.
Admittedly, there is always pressure when it comes to these live-action adaptations to deliver, but Kishimoto does seem confident with Cretton. In a press release, he said:
“When I heard of Destin’s attachment, it happened to be right after watching a blockbuster action film of his, and I thought he would be the perfect director for Naruto. After enjoying his other films and understanding that his forte is in creating solid dramas about people, I became convinced that there is no other director for Naturo. In actually meeting Destin, I also found him to be an open-minded director who was willing to embrace my input, and felt strongly that we would be able to cooperate together in the production process.“
Naruto has no release window yet, but hopefully we get a significant update before the year ends.
