Screenwriter Dan Mazeau has been tapped to adapt the screenplay from the famous Japanese manga, while 'Get Smart' helmer Peter Segal will serve as the producer and possibly direct the film.
- Feb 23, 2012
AceShowbiz - While it has put the development of "Akira" on a hold, Warner Bros. Pictures reportedly moves forward with a new Japanese manga-adapted movie. According to Variety, the studio has acquired the live-action feature rights to Tite Kubo's famous comic and anime property, "Bleach".
Warners has already tapped "Wrath of the Titans" screenwriter Dan Mazeau to provide the script. Serving as the producer for the upcoming project is "50 First Dates" director Peter Segal, who is also poised to tackle the helming duty.
"I've always been a huge fan of 'Bleach' and have great respect for its creator Kubo and the truly original and amazing world he has created in this manga," so said Segal of the comics, which have been sold more than 75 million print copies in Japan alone.
"Bleach" follows Ichigo Kurosaki, a 15-year-old teenager who has an ability to see ghosts. He then meets a female Soul Reaper, a member of an order that excorts the souls of the dead. A fight with an evil spirit causes the Reaper to transfer all her power to Ichigo, leaving her stranded in the human world as the boy takes over her job as an evil fighter.
In the meantime, Warners' other manga-adapted movie "Akira" has been temporarily put on pause due to budgetary and script issue. The Leonardo DiCaprio-produced film has already hired Jaume Collet-Serra as the helmer with Garrett Hedlund and Gary Oldman being attached to the cast ensemble.
