From variety.com

Warner Bros. is moving ahead with its remake of "Akira" in a fiscally sensible way, tapping reliable Spanish helmer Jaume Collet-Serra ("Orphan," "Unknown") to direct a live-action version of the anime cult hit at a lower revised budget of $90 (down from $150) million.

WB acquired the potential tentpole project for a seven-figure sum from Japanese manga publisher Kodansha in 2008. Ruairi Robinson and Albert Hughes were previously attached to direct the adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's graphic novel, but Hughes exited amicably in May over creative differences.

Gary Whitta was the first writer attached, while Albert Torres and the team of Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby also contributed drafts. Steve Kloves, WB's go-to scribe for its lucrative "Harry Potter" franchise, most recently polished Torres' draft.

Set in New Manhattan, the cyberpunk sci-fi epic follows the leader of a biker gang who must save his friend, discovered with potentially destructive psychokinetic abilities, from government medical experimentats.

Appian Way's Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran are producing with Mad Chance's Andrew Lazar. Otomo, who wrote and directed the 1988 Japanese anime pic of the same name, will exec produce "Akira."

Collet-Serra has earned a reputation for delivering pics on time and on budget, and his box office performance has been rising with each effort: His feature directorial debut "House of Wax" took in $68 million worldwide in 2005, while 2009's "Orphan" grossed more than $76 million worldwide. Earlier this year, Liam Neeson starrer "Unknown" opened in the top spot and has grossed more than $130 million worldwide on a reported production budget of $30 million.

joshwoodzy wrote:

I for one really don't care and probably won't see it anyways, I still have my copy of Akira to watch whenever I want and this being made doesn't lessen the impact of it.

Do you have any volumes of the manga?

aika wrote:

Blackout wrote: Uh, someone who knows more about anime than me jump in and help me out, did they ever butcher Ninja Scroll or Vampire Hunter D in a jump to the live screen? I didn't even know they were making a live-action Vampire Hunter D, so thanks for the head's up. It looks like the news only came out last year so nothing's been released yet.

He was being facetious; they're not doing either of those classics as a live action series. They gave Kasshern (some of you may remember him as being awesome in tatsunoko vs. Capcom) a live action treatment, but I haven't seen that yet.

from MTV's splashpage:

There’s no going back now. This past July, when we heard that the live-action "Akira" project had just secured a director in Spain’s Jaume Collet-Serra ("Orphan"), we were ready to start picking favorites from a proposed list of famous faces to fill its roles.

But now that the adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's 8-volume manga has officially received the green light, as Variety reports, studios can finally begin a serious hunt for the story’s main characters, Kaneda and Tetsuo... and according to Variety’s sources, "Tron Legacy" actor Garrett Hedlund is already speeding swiftly towards one of those lead roles.

Hedlund was among a list of actors reportedly being considered for the role of Kaneda as early as July. Also on that list were older A-list stars Keanu Reeves and Joaquin Phoenix, whose only real involvement with the project, it turns out, may have been to earn some press for the conflicted adaptation.

Robert Pattinson and Andrew Garfield were among names thrown around for Tetsuo. No word on who Collet-Serra and studio executives plan on pursuing, but animated “Akira” fans know a post-transformation Tetsuo may be exactly what Pattinson needs to effectively erase public perception of his much infatuated-over "Twilight" Edward persona.

Katsuhiro Otomo, who also wrote and directed 1988’s animated "Akira," cult-revered by Anime and animation fans alike, is set to executive produce the live-action film.

Twitchfilm:

It seems that virtually from the day that Warner Brothers greenlit the US, live action version of Akira rumors have been circulating that Tron Legacy star Garrett Hedlund was director Jaume Collet-Serra's choice to take the lead role of Kaneda. It seems that the powers that be at WB now agree, as Twitch has learned that Hedlund has just received a formal offer to take the part.

Though best known for his part in Tron Hedlund's past roles are actually quite diverse, including stints in genre fare (Death Sentence), romcoms (Georgia Rule), kid friendly fantasy (Eragon), and straight up drama both mainstream (Friday Night Lights) and indie, with Hedlund headlining Walter Salles' upcoming Jack Kerouac adaptation On The Road.

Put Hedlund next to Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter - who have both been offered key support parts - and it's clear that the producers are looking to fill the cast with recognizable names who are also actors with solid dramatic abilities, which is certainly preferable to many approaches. The curious part, however, is retaining the Japanese names despite shifting the setting to New York and the so-far all Caucasian cast.