10 Upcoming Movie Adaptations Of Japanese Anime (And If They Will Work)
9. Bleach
The Anime:
Another anime that originated as a serialized manga, Bleach was written and illustrated by Tite Kubo and released in 2001. In the years since, the story of Ichigo Kurosaki has appeared across various different mediums, though it was the anime that brought it to the attention of the western world. Kurosaki is a teenager who is given extraordinary powers by mistake when a Soul Reaper (a defender of humans against lost souls) inadvertently transfers all of her powers to him.
What We Know:
VIZ Media, the largest distributor of anime and manga in the North America, announced that Warner Bros. had acquired the live-action feature film rights for Bleach back in 2012, with Dan Mazeau (Clash of the Titans) given the unenviable job of turning the 16-season show into a two hour movie. The film is to be produced by Peter Segal, whom is also expected to take on directing duties.
Will It Work?
The size of the job at hand means the odds are stacked against any live-action retelling of Bleach, with a whopping 366 episodes that will need to be pruned with care if the remake is to capture the soul of the show. It seems likely that WB will see the property as a potential new franchise, which is the only way to do Bleach justice in a big screen format, though the involvement of Peter Segal (frequent director of Adam Sandler movies) raises more red flags.