A new Hollywood adaptation of one of the most popular and beloved animes in history has fans worried.
“Naruto,” which debuted as a manga in the ’90s and as a show in 2005, will be getting a Hollywood glow-up, according to a new report from The Hollywood Reporter.
According to THR, Lionsgate will be the studio behind this adaptation of “Naruto,” with Destin Daniel Cretton as writer and co-producer.
Cretton’s most notable title under his belt is the 2021 Marvel film “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” a movie that came out to mixed reviews and subdued reactions.
Naruto’s creator, Masashi Kishimoto, seems enthused about the project.
“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,” said Kishimoto via statement, per THR. “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 Naruto.
“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.”
Fans of Naruto don’t appear to share the same enthusiasm.
Have you ever watched or read “Naruto”?
The immediate reaction on social media was quite a bit thornier than Kishimoto’s assessment of the new film.
Some fans were miffed at the choice to make this a single movie, given that Naruto’s anime features a robust 720 episodes. Many felt that cramming even 20 episodes into a single movie would be a great disservice to the characters and story:
A movie will never work. It’s just not enough time to develop the characters…. And there are so many characters in the show.
It’s impossible to convey Naruto’s development as an outcast to being accepted in just 2 hrs. It just would not work.
— Eminent Bromain (@bobofango86) February 23, 2024
Other fans invoked the raw disappointment of Netflix’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” series — a fellow live-action adaptation of a popular animated show — as reason enough to be dubious:
Not after the disappointment that was avatar.
— ∂αιℓуσ∂∂ѕ (@DailyoddsX_Ng) February 23, 2024
Oh snap! This is going to be as bad as the AVATAR show on Netflix.
— Matt Jarbo (@mjarbo) February 23, 2024
Others just seemed tired of the direction of Hollywood’s general creative process these days, where nothing is original and everything is adapted from an existing intellectual property:
No we don’t want this
Not all anime need a live action 😭😭
— predictor (@Spanalysis_) February 23, 2024
are writers ever going to write new things at this point
— Honest Andrew 🥀 (@andrewscomet) February 23, 2024
“Naruto” follows the trials and tribulations of the titular, adolescent ninja. Naruto’s main powers are insane stubbornness and insane reserves of energy.
The animated series begins with Naruto as a young boy (the first “Naruto” run) and splits off after a big time-jump where Naruto and his peers become young adults (the “Naruto: Shippuden” run). Those two series cover 720 episodes.
“Shippuden” ended in 2017, but a spin-off series (“Boruto” who is Naruto’s son) launched in 2018. “Boruto” ended its initial run in 2023, but a second run is currently in development.
