Movie studio Lionsgate is now working toward making a Naruto movie happen, and while that may feel like a reactionary response toward the success of Netflix’s One Piece adaption (really the first live-action take on an anime to work correctly), they’ve had this project on their plate since 2015. One Piece likely pushed them into getting off their duffs with it, though.
There hasn’t really been any news about it since the initial announcement, but this week it was revealed writer Tasha Huo has been hired to create the script for the Naruto movie. This is a busy woman who currently has two unreleased projects in the air: Amazon’s The Mighty Nein, the streamer’s second animated adaption of a Critical Role campaign, and Netflix’s anime Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, in which she serves as the showrunner. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for Naruto, but we get the sense this is nowhere near production ready anyway.
Naruto was one of the biggest hits to come out of Shonen Jump in the 2000s; its long-running anime became a global sensation and spawned several spinoffs: Shippuden, which is 90% filler, and Boruto, which takes place a generation later and focuses on Naruto’s son.
But way before Naruto reproduced, he was a scrappy young ninja kid from the Hidden Leaf Village with grandiose dreams of becoming its leader (the “Hokage”). This was a lofty goal as the kid was kind of an outcast due to his being the vessel for a dangerous nine-tailed fox demon. But with his friend Sakura and his frenemy Sasuke beside him, plus a few other people he got to know along the way, Naruto never gave up on his goals in life — and according to Boruto, he eventually achieved them. Believe it!
Lionsgate’s Naruto movie currently has no release window and may be years from ever seeing the light of day. But we’ll pass on any new info.
