Film & TVNewsAkira’s live-action remake gets a 2021 release dateThe Leonardo DiCaprio-produced film will come out on May 21, 2021ShareLink copied ✔️May 25, 2019Film & TVNewsTextThom Waite Earlier this week (May 20) we got news that the live-action remake of the acclaimed anime Akira is set to start shooting in July. Now, though, we’ve had another update. The Wrap reports that Akira will have a summer 2021 release date, slated for May 21. As we’ve previously covered, Taika Waititi will be directing the adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo’s manga, which became iconic as a 1988 film credited with bringing anime to a western audience. He’s been clear, though, that the focus will be on the original text, telling IGN back in 2017: “I would not do a remake of the movie. I would do an adaption of the books.” Another big name now revealed to be involved in the production is Leonardo DiCaprio, who will produce alongside Jennifer Davisson (known for The Revenant) on behalf of his own production company, Appian Way. Reassuringly, Waititi has spoken of his intentions to cast Asian teenagers in the primary roles, which will mean avoiding a whole Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell whitewashing debacle. Expand your creative community and connect with 15,000 creatives from around the world.READ MOREThe Voice of Hind Rajab, a Palestinian drama moving audiences to tearsMeet the 2025 winners of the BFI & Chanel Filmmaker AwardsOobah Butler’s guide to getting rich quickRed Scare revisited: 5 radical films that Hollywood tried to banPlainclothes is a tough but tender psychosexual thrillerCillian Murphy and Little Simz on their ‘provoking’ new film, Steve‘It’s like a drug, the adrenaline’: Julia Fox’s 6 favourite horror filmsHow Benny Safdie rewrote the rules of the sports biopic Harris Dickinson’s Urchin is a magnetic study of life on the marginsPaul Thomas Anderson on writing, The PCC and One Battle After AnotherWayward, a Twin Peaks-y new thriller about the ‘troubled teen’ industryHappyend: A Japanese teen sci-fi set in a dystopian, AI-driven future