A Naruto Live-Action Adaptation Is Currently In The Works; The Witcher Scriptwriter Hired
Tasha Huo, the aforementioned scriptwriter, says she considers it a fan’s dream come true to adapt beloved characters to life.
Entertainment magazine “Variety” casually reported, on Nov 22, 2023, that the earlier announced Naruto Live-action adaptation by Lionsgate (Hunger Games, Saw) will have the screenwriter, who wrote “The Witcher: Blood Origin” mini TV-series, pen the script adapting the journey of this lonely Ninja heading his way to become Hokage and bringing it in a real world setting.
Tasha Huo, the aforementioned screenwriter, says she considers it a fan’s dream come true to adapt beloved characters to life.
“Adapting iconic characters or IP makes the writing of it easier, because the passion for writing it is already there. I’m so inspired by these characters already that it’s exciting to just take a part of their journey and try to tell that fun story in a way that would appeal to me as a fan.”
Apart from Naruto, she is also executive producing the animated series “Mighty Nein” for Amazon, as well as serving as showrunner on the “Tomb Raider” animated series for Netflix and Legendary.
This is the first update we’ve received on the Naruto live-action 10 years after its announcement.
Lionsgate and Arad Productions have been working on a live-action adaptation of Naruto since 2015. For a long time, the film lingered on their future slate before they confirmed in 2021 that development was still ongoing. When Lionsgate announced the film’s fast-tracking in 2023, the clock began ticking.
Masashi Kishimoto, author of the original Naruto manga, is reported to be collaborating on the film’s script.
About Naruto:
Naruto manga, written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto, was serialized in Shueisha’s magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump, from 1999 to 2014 and released in tankobon (book) form in 72 volumes.
Viz Media licensed the manga and anime for North American production and serialized Naruto in their digital Weekly Shonen Jump magazine.
Naruto is one of the best-selling manga series in history, with 250 million copies in circulation worldwide in 47 countries and regions.
Out of this, 153 million copies were sold in Japan alone, and the remaining 97 million copies were sold worldwide.
Studio Pierrot and TV Tokyo were responsible for producing the Naruto anime. It premiered in Japan on October 3, 2002, and concluded on February 8, 2007.
The anime aired 220 episodes in total.
Naruto: Shippuden, developed by Studio Pierrot, is the sequel to the original Naruto anime. Naruto: Shippuden adapts Part II of the manga.
The anime began on February 15, 2007, and ended on March 23, 2017.
Currently, the second part of the sequel “BORUTO” titled BORUTO -TWO BLUE VORTEX-” (original story and manga by Masashi Kishimoto, supervised by Mikio Ikemoto) is being serialized in V Jump.
Source: Variety
