Those who've wondered whether manga/anime classic Akira can actually work as a live-action movie have been waiting for years for it to actually get off the ground and out of development. Hopes rose when Taika Waititi was attached, but with his busy schedule, it looks like we'll all just have to be that much more patient. Still, talking recently with IGN, Waititi reiterated that he wants to make the movie, it's just a matter of finding the right gap in his diary.
"Unfortunately, the timing with Akira, because we've been working really hard on the script, we had to keep pushing the start date for the shoot," Waititi says. "We ended up having to push it a couple weeks too far, which actually ate into the Thor schedule, because they were very close together. And that got pushed again and again, and it just got too far into the Thor schedule to be able to make it work. And my first commitment was to Marvel to make that film, so now I've kind of had to take Akira and sort of shift it around to the tail-end of Thor and move it down a couple of years."
He's recently been busy promoting his latest, Jojo Rabbit (out here in January) and is also squeezing in another smaller-scale film – footie documentary adaptation Next Goal Wins before his return to the MCU with Thor: Love And Thunder sucks all his time away for a good year or two. After that? Assuming Warner Bros. is willing to hold off, Akira might get its moment. Emphasis on the "might"...