A live-action movie for the popular manga and anime series, Naruto, has been announced, with Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton at the helm.
『NARUTO -ナルト-』実写映画の監督&脚本がデスティン・ダニエル・クレットン氏に決定! #NARUTO https://t.co/0dR0la5k8c
— NARUTO・BORUTO【原作公式】 (@NARUTO_kousiki) February 23, 2024
Destin Daniel Cretton will be the director and screenwriter of the live-action “NARUTO” movie! #NARUTO (Translated by Google)
The news was officially announced in an X/Twitter post, accompanied by a translated press release by Lionsgate.
“It was a true honor to meet Kishimoto-san in Tokyo and hear his expansive vision for his creation,” said filmmaker Cretton. “We are very excited to collaborate and bring NARUTO to the big screen.”
Destin Daniel Cretton will work alongside Jeyun Munford through his company, Hisako, and they will join Avi Arad, Ari Arad, and Emmy Yu of Arad Productions and with Jeremy Latcham.
Lionsgate, who has collaborated with Cretton on the film The Glass Castle, will have James Myers, the overseer of that film, to also oversee the production of the live-action movie for Naruto.
Masashi Kishimoto, the manga artist of the hit series Naruto, has expressed how he felt that Cretton would be the perfect director for the Naruto live-action movie.
“When I heard of Destin’s attachment, it happened to be right after watching a blockbuster action film of his, and I thought he would be the perfect director for NARUTO. After enjoying his other films and understanding that his forte is in creating solid dramas about people, I became convinced that there is no other director for NARUTO,” said Masashi Kishimoto. “In actually meeting Destin, I also found him to be an open-minded director who was willing to embrace my input, and felt strongly that we would be able to cooperate together in the production process. To put it simply, the live-action NARUTO is bound to be a film with spectacular action and profound drama. I can’t help but be excited for it.”
Filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton is best known for his works with Marvel Studios for Shang-Chi and Legends of the Ten Rings and is now attached to the upcoming movie Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
As of now, no release date for the live-action movie has been announced, but knowing how long a movie usually takes to produce, fans would need to wait quite a while to see the release of the movie.
Naruto is a Japanese shonen manga series that has become one of the most popular series worldwide since its release in 1999, with over 250 million copies in circulation in over 60 countries.
The series is commonly regarded as one of the Big Three alongside Bleach and One Piece. which is a term used to describe the three most popular running series during their golden age in Shounen Jump’s mid-2000s period.