CowboyBebop Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It was just last week that anime fans the world over breathed a sigh of relief that Leonardo DiCaprio's live-action Akira was no more. But, that doesn't mean Hollywood has lost its taste for anime, and there are still plenty of other reboots headed our way. So while most of them have stayed in development limbo, two of the more popular titles: Cowboy Bebop and Robotech have started to make new ground, and some of the people involved are starting to talk.

Cowboy Bebop:
When the live action film of the beloved anime was first announced, fans were not thrilled with the idea. Plus, it probably didn't help that Keanu Reeves was taking the role of Spike. But, maybe we shouldn't count out the film yet, because when it comes to the film's screenwriter, there is good news and some bad news. But, let's start with the good news. In an interview with Anime Vice, Craig was asked about whether or not he was familiar with the series, and to his credit, Craig went into full fan-boy mode, telling them about some of his favorite episodes and that both he and Reeves have been meeting with Sunrise studio (the creator of the anime) to make sure that the original 'feel' of the show remains intact. According to Craig, "they [Sunrise] were very specific about their vision for the series, and how it might convert to a live-action film." -- sounds promising, right? Well, the bad news is that Craig has zero experience with sci-fi, and made his name writing about con-men and dysfunctional families. But, I'm going to remain hopeful that with Sunrise watching over the flick, there might be a chance we get something a little better than expected.

Read the rest over at SciFi Squad

You probably remember that a little over a year ago, the news hit that Leonardo DiCaprio would be producing a live action version of the beloved anime, Akira, and as to be expected, fans were peeved. Within minutes, comment boards (including ours) were jammed with cries of white-washing, racism, and general predictions of overall crappiness. But, if you happen to have been one of those fans crying for blood; I've got some good news for you. Bloody Disgusting now reports that the live-action Akira has been pronounced "Dead as a doornail" by not one, but two inside sources -- I guess we should have seen this coming when the film was promised to be released in 2009, and there wasn't a signed cast member in sight.

For those not familiar with Akira, it was the story of a teen biker gang member who is subjected to government experiments and unleashes destruction on a post-nuclear Tokyo. Ruairi Robinson had originally been slated to direct a script by Gary Whitta (Book of Eli), but DiCaprio had promised that they wouldn't be moving ahead with Akira until they had a quality script, so maybe Whitta could have been the source of the delay. Either way, I guess we can all breathe a sigh of relief that Tetsuo and the gang are safe from the monster known as 'reboot fever'...at least for now, anyway.

After the jump; status reports on other classic anime in line for a Hollywood makeover...

If you were one of the many fans out there that was not loving the idea of Keanu Reeves remaking Cowboy Bebop; you might want to brace yourself. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Twentieth Century Fox is officially bringing the beloved anime to the big screen with Reeves attached in the lead. Now if you are a fan of the original show, you can guess just who I'm talking about when I say the lead -- that's right; Reeves will play Spike Spiegel, the interstellar bounty hunter who is *captain of the ship known as The Bebop.

Bebop was the story of a group of bounty hunters set in a time of interstellar travel and astral gates. When a lunar explosion decimated most of humanity, criminals were flung far and wide into the solar system -- enter the rag-tag crew of the Bebop to track them down. Peter Craig has already been tapped to write the script (who only has a few comedy shorts on his resume), but there is no word yet on who is going to direct.

Talk of a live action film has been floating around for a while now, but the press really started to take notice when Reeve's name was attached last summer. When Reeves spoke to MTV about the project earlier this year, most of us knew that the flick had gone well past the talking stage, and the idea of a 2010 release date suddenly didn't seem so unlikely.

So now that we have our Spike, sound off below and tell us who you would like to see fill out the rest of the crew of The Bebop.

*Correction: Spike was not top dog on the Bebop, that honor went to the ship's owner, Jet Black.

The last time news about Fox's live-action version of the classic Anime Cowboy Bebop popped up, it seemed like most fans weren't exactly thrilled with the whole idea. So, I'm awfully curious to hear what they think of Keanu Reeves' latest comments over at the MTV Movie Blog. Reeves recently spoke with MTV about the project and he told them, "We've got the rights, we've got a writer" -- which could lend a bit of truth to the rumors that Fox was fast-tracking the project for a 2010 release.

Bebop premiered in Japan in 1998, and followed the adventures of a group of bounty hunters in the year 2071. The series was renowned for its complex stories and characters, and it's inventive use of classic rock and pop songs in the narrative. Reeves tells MTV that the outline for the film is "currently focusing on the origins of the fictional "Bebop" drug developed by the military, which provides its users with a brief surge of superhuman reflexes and awareness. "We're taking the Red Eye [story], the beginning part of the series, and then we'll deal with the end of the series. We're trying to figure out [the time frame]. We're looking at the story right now" (which, if you know anything about the fractured and complex stories of Bebop, is going to be no easy task).

For all the anime fans who hoped that certain titles would remain out of the grasp of Hollywood; I have some bad news for you. According to iFMagazine, Fox has given the green-light for a live-action version of the classic animated series, Cowboy Bebop. During the Television Critics Association press tour, producer Erwin Stoff let it slip that he now has a deal in place with Fox studios to bring the popular series to the big screen. Stoff told journalists, "I'm developing COWBOY BEBOP for Fox, but doing it as a live-action film, so I'm working on that at the moment, I'm really excited to be working on it, and it's in the really early stages. We just signed it the other day."

For the uninitiated; Cowboy Bebop was the story of a group of bounty hunters and their adventures aboard their ship, Bebop, in the year 2071. The series was a huge success in both Japan and in the US, and even spawned an animated film back in 2002.

For fans who might be worried that Cowboy could suffer the same fate as other anime-inspired flicks, there is a silver lining. Stoff promised that, "I have such an enormous admiration for its creators, that our first and foremost concern is going to be a real degree of faithfulness to the tone of the movie, to the mix of genres, and so on and so forth," -- I don't want to sound too cynical, but it's not like we haven't heard that one before.

Now on to the more important question: Who should take over for Jet Black and the gang on the big screen? Sound off below...

Before I start, let me say thanks to my very alert readers, who picked up a mistake of mine in a story which ran on Sunday. I wrote about new pictures from the set of Fantastic Four 2, but mistakenly put the link to older pictures. The new pictures can be found here. Again, thanks to readers Ryan, CharlieBrown, Andy and Tim for catching my mistake. Well played, gents!

News of the week which caught my attention: Yet another rumor of Japanese anime being turned into American movies. This one comes to us via Comic Book Movies (the financing company) and Ishimori, Inc. You can read the whole story here.

I continue to have mixed feelings regarding major motion pictures based on anime titles. I am an anime/manga fan, and while I'm certainly not as knowledgeable as some of you true buffs out there, I've certainly seen and read my fair share. With the overwhelming popularity of comic book/graphic novel movies in Hollywood these days and the ever increasing presence of Japanese media in America, anime movies would seem to be a forgone conclusion. And since American audiences seem to have a tough time accepting non-children's animation in major theater releases, live action is undoubtedly the way to go.