4 hours ago
2
The Year of Anime continues as winning director Chloé Zhao and her production partner Nicolas Gonda have just announced the formation of Kodansha Studios, an entity dedicated to producing film and TV based on manga.
Deadline reports that the venture is teamed with manga publisher Kodansha, as you might have guessed from the name.
Kodansha Studios will leverage the Kodansha library, which is the leading Japanese publisher behind such beloved manga as Akira and Attack on Titan, to create films and series spanning romance, drama, horror and event-level action and fantasy. Kodansha will connect international filmmakers with renowned Japanese manga authors, developing and packaging premium adaptations.
Zhao, winner of two Oscars for Nomadland, and Gonda (formerly of Meow Wolf) are currently teamed up for a separate production company, Book of Shadows.
The studio was announced at a press conference in Japan, attended by Zhao, who will serve as CCO, Gonda, who will be COO, and Kodansha CEO Yoshinobu Noma. In a statement he noted that this is part of the spread of Japanese culture worldwide. “The establishment of Kodansha Studios represents a pivotal moment – and a new chapter – in the relationship between Japanese publishers and Hollywood. This studio is our commitment to accelerating direct partnerships with premier global artists, producers, and partner studios.”
Zhao is best known in comics circles for directing The Eternals, but on her press tours she made it clear she was a manga reader. She was even spotted at the Kodansha House pop-up last month.
In the statement accompanying the announcement, she said “I grew up reading and drawing Manga. I love being a part of the fandoms and I feel a deep sense of belonging with people around the world who share their love for these characters and stories. Kodansha has an unparalleled library of manga and novels cultivated by master storytellers just waiting to be brought to life onscreen. By connecting these brilliant authors with their filmmaker counterparts internationally, we can empower both parties while driving a wave of exceptional storytelling for audiences all over the world.”
As we’ve noted here a few times, the global popularity of anime has finally penetrated the thick noggin of conventional Hollywood thinking, so Kodansha Studios arrives at just the right moment. Kodansha’s deep library includes such hits as Tokyo Revengers, Blue Lock, The Kindaichi Case Files, Initial D, The Seven Deadly Sins and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime and countless others, so Zhao and Gonda will have a lot of material to choose from.
Most likely at the top of their list: maybe we will finally get that live action Akira movie that has been threatened for many, many years. The project has had as many as ten directors attached over the decades, including Stephen Norrington, Ruairi Robinson, the Hughes Brothers, then one Hughes brother, Jaume Collet-Serra and most recently Taika Waititi. All of the versions proposed thus far made huge changes like: moving the story to New York (WHAT THE F*CK), making Tetsuo and Akira brothers, and so on. All better left unmade.
Maybe in the world of 2025, with Zhao and Gonda overseeing this theoretical project, they can actually make an Akira live action movie that is based on Akira? One can only dream.
English (US)