Entertainment news website Variety has confirmed that American film production company Warner Bros. has acquired the feature film rights to Hajime Isayama's post-apocalyptic fantasy manga Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan). Warner Bros. reached a deal with the manga's Japanese publisher, Kodansha, on Monday.
The Hollywood film adaptation will be helmed by Argentine filmmaker Andy Muschietti, who directed last year's supernatural horror film It, based on Stephen King's 1986 novel of the same name. British film studio Heyday Films founder David Heyman (Harry Potter), Japanese American actor Masi Oka (Death Note), and Andy's sister Barbara Muschietti (Mama) are credited as producers for the film.
Negotiations for the manga's adaptation by a Hollywood production company were first revealed by the entertainment news website Deadline Hollywood in January 2017. At the time, Kodansha released a statement indicating that various film negotiations were underway and that the Deadline Hollywood report was erroneous. On Tuesday morning, Kodansha finally provided a press release to Japanese media confirming the film's production.
Toho Pictures previously produced two live-action adaptations of Shingeki no Kyojin in 2015. Those films (pictured) were directed by Gainax veteran Shinji Higuchi and starred Haruma Miura as protagonist Eren Yeager. Both films were also released internationally. In Japan, the films earned a cumulative 4.93 billion yen in box office revenues, becoming the year's seventh and 24th highest-grossing domestic films.
No release date has been set for Muschietti's Shingeki no Kyojin adaptation. He is currently directing a sequel of It scheduled to be released in September 2019.
Source: Variety, PR Times
Tags:
Anime