Warner Bros. hoping to reignite the doused flames of anger over Akira with adaptation of Bleach

By Sean O'Neal | February 23, 2012 | 6:06pm

Aux Features Film

Warner Bros. may have been waylaid in its plans to adapt Akira with a mediocre Americanized version, thus harnessing the collective rage of the Internet and converting it into a renewable energy source, but the studio already has another cultishly adored manga in mind that could finally free us from fossil fuels. Variety reports that it’s acquired the live-action rights to Tite Kubo’s Bleach, the long-running comic and animated series about a teenager who can see ghosts and his quest to defend innocents from evil spirits, and which will hopefully make for a really infuriating movie project when they stick, say, Taylor Lautner in it.

Of course, such angry blog-provoking casting decisions are still at least weeks away, but Warner Bros. has already begun stirring up the first vibrations of all that powerful negative force by hiring director Peter Segal, best known for his work on Adam Sandler comedies like Anger Management, 50 First Dates, and The Longest Yard, as well as films such as Get Smart and The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. Segal will work from a screenplay by Wrath Of The Titans scribe Dan Mazeau, and produce alongside Heroes star (and project originator) Masi Oka, who is Asian and will therefore keep the balance of righteous ire from completely boiling over, at least until the generators are in place.