Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’s co-writer and director Destin Daniel Cretton is making the leap from comics to manga with a live-action adaptation of Naruto. One of the most popular anime and manga properties of the last several decades, Naruto has lived many lives as a comic book, several animated shows, and a slew of animated movies, not to mention a never-ending series of video games. The Hollywood Reporter notes that Cretton’s attachment to the adaptation is one of the first major moves in its development since 2015, and he is set to write and direct the movie.
Cretton, who is also working on a sequel to Shang-Chi and a show based on the Marvel superhero Wonder Man, personally obtained the blessing of Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto after a recent visit to Tokyo. Kishimoto will help oversee the production of the adaptation.
When speaking of Cretton, Mashimoto had this to say:
“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. 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.”
Cretton will be producing the film alongside producer Avi Arad of Arad Productions, which is responsible for the production of numerous Marvel-adjacent properties like Sony’s Spider-Man films, the Spider-Verse series, Morbius, and the upcoming Kraven the Hunter. The production studio and Arad are also quickly accruing a reputation for anime and video game adaptations, helping produce the live-action Ghost in the Shell film from 2017, this year’s Borderlands movie, and the recently announced adaptation of The Legend of Zelda.
