While it probably wasn’t on the minds of fans at the time, the Comic-Con announcement that Taika Waititi would return to Marvel for Thor: Love and Thunder meant something else on his slate would have to get pushed back. Nothing was announced, but it was clear that movie would be Akira, the forever-developing adaptation of the anime/manga classic. Speaking with Variety, Waititi made it clear that Akira has indeed been pushed back, and casts doubt whether he’ll ever get around to it.
“The whole thing went on hold. We had to keep pushing the dates, and it encroached on the ‘Thor’ dates, which were immovable. So ‘Akira’ ended up shifting two years down the track.”
Two years is a crazy long time in Hollywood terms, and Waititi can’t promise Akira will be front of mind when his schedule frees up…
“Post-’Thor.’ So I’m not sure if even in two years I’d be — I don’t know what I’m doing in fucking two days. I think eventually it will happen. I’m just not sure if I’ll be doing it.”
Fans of Akira have been waiting so long they’ll probably wait two years to have a director like Waititi on it. That said, in the past whenever a filmmaker has expressed doubt on this project, they’ve tended to move on to something else. The nearly two-decade-long track record speaks for itself. Waititi, who just won an Oscar for Jojo Rabbit, may want to tackle a film with a hope of getting him back on that stage.
