Lionsgate has been developing a live-action movie adaptation of the popular anime and manga franchise Naruto for several years. The project was first announced back in 2015, with Tasha Huo, screenwriter for Netflix’s The Witcher series, attached to write the script.
However, there have been no major updates on the status of the film since the initial announcement.
Fans of the original Naruto series and the wider anime/manga community have been eagerly awaiting further news about the live-action adaptation. As of now, all that is officially confirmed is that a Naruto movie is still in development.
Despite the lack of official confirmation, it seems production is underway with plans for a potential late 2024 release.
Recently, Maile Flanagan, the English voice actor for the lead character Naruto Uzumaki in the anime series, discussed the upcoming live-action film in an interview.
She gave a positive update about the progress of the adaptation and also talked about the prospects for success of live-action anime adaptations gaining traction in the entertainment world.
So while concrete details are still scarce, development does appear to be moving forward on Lionsgate’s Naruto, with those involved expressing optimism about the future of live-action anime remakes.
Fans hungry for updates will likely have to continue waiting patiently for more official news to emerge.
Maile Flanagan Discusses Longstanding Rumors of a Live-Action Naruto
In an interview, Naruto’s English voice actor Maile Flanagan discussed how she has been hearing rumors about a potential live-action Naruto movie for years.
She stated that she has been getting whispered phone calls from Hollywood offices telling her that she is not allowed to publicly speak about the movie, but that it never ends up happening.
Flanagan was quoted as saying that she has heard rumors for years about a Naruto movie being in development.
She has received hushed phone calls from Hollywood offices saying she is prohibited from making any statements, but no movie ever materializes from those discussions.
However, she thinks the secrecy perhaps makes it a bit more promising. She speculates that the film studios might be more able to envision actually greenlighting the production of a movie because of the buzz and intrigue.
Flanagan admits she has not seen any footage herself, so she does not know what shape the project is in. But she has heard that what has been done so far is good.
In addition during the interview, Maile Flanagan admitted that although she herself does not watch anime and is unsure how they will manage to distill a sprawling series like Naruto into a feature film format, she believes a live-action Naruto movie still has huge potential to succeed.
She commented that she does not personally watch anime, including popular series like One Piece. So she is uncertain how the creative team will “wrestle this beast into a single movie” – referring to the challenge of adapting the lengthy Naruto storyline into a condensed live-action runtime.
However, she thinks early on the problem was that old-fashioned Hollywood executives did not understand anime. But now it has become very cool and hip – even cooler than some other popular franchises.
Flanagan further stated that those Hollywood decision-makers also now recognize the massive value of anime properties.
She has never seen as much extensive merchandise created for any other franchise as she has seen with Naruto.
She notes that if you think Star Wars products are everywhere, they have nothing on Naruto, which can be found on everything from spatulas to almost any conceivable item.
So the sheer amount of Naruto merchandise alone hints at its incredible popularity.
More About Naruto
The Village Hidden in the Leaves, known as Konoha, is located in the Land of Fire – one of the five major ninja nations in the Shinobi World. One day Konoha is attacked by a powerful nine-tailed fox demon.
To stop the rampage, the leader of the village – Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze – seals the demon fox inside his newborn son Naruto Uzumaki at the cost of his own life.
This leaves Naruto as the host of the dreaded Nine-Tails beast.
With Minato gone, the Third Hokage comes out of retirement to guide Konoha again. Young Naruto is shunned by many villagers for having the fox demon sealed within him.
Due to the Third Hokage’s law, Naruto remains unaware of his burden until years later when rogue ninja Mizuki reveals the truth. But Naruto beats Mizuki in battle, earning his teacher Iruka’s respect in the process.
Naruto subsequently becomes a ninja himself, teaming up with rivals Sasuke Uchiha and crush Sakura Haruno under their mentor and elite ninja Kakashi Hatake to form Team 7.
They take on various missions requested by the townspeople, ranging from menial tasks to dangerous battles. After proving themselves, they advance in rank to take on more difficult, high-stakes missions.