Why "Naruto" Should be made into a live action movie and how it should be done.
Alright maybe not a comic book, but being a manga/anime it's close enough.
What can a major studio benifit from making Naruto into a live action movie. Think about some of the greatest franchises to come out in recent years... The Lord of the Rings, Twilight and Harry Potter. Whether you like them or not I'm sure that you'll agree they each have their own dedicated fan base and a huge audience. All three of these franchises have raked in money by the bucket load.
On a distribution level these films generate countless kinds of merchandise. T-shirts, costumes, comics, toys, music etc. The list is endless. If merchandise is what you want in a movie, then look no further. Naruto already has a huge fanbase. Fans can already buy novalty head bands and kunai, action figures, posters and costumes. Again the list is endless.
The greatest comparison to Naruto's likeability is Harry Potter. Both stories start with a young child who discovers he is destined for something great, along the way he meets valuable friends and deadly enemies, above all friendship helps the hero to prevail in the end.
Now for a closer comparison then, Harry Potter consists of seven books made into eight movies. Each film works on that previous to it, instead of being a seperate entity in itself, for instance the Die Hard series have John fighting a different enemy in each one, no matter how loosely connected the enemies might be.
If Naruto were to be made into a film, it is more than likely over nine or more movies could be made, for there is so much story to be told as he each would build on that previous to it, isn't this what Hollywood loves? Franchises that never end?. We follow Naruto as he becomes the great ninja he inevitably becomes, as we see Harry Potter become a great wizard. Before you start saying nine films seems a bit much, I believe there are just as many Saw films.
The greatest asset Harry Potter has as a franchise is character development. With eight movies we care for the characters far, far more than we would for in any other movie. Of course I write this as big fan of the Harry Potter franchise so you may be inclined to disagree. What if Ron died? Or Hermione? Possibly Neville? If any of these characters died the impact on the audience would be monumental. It's this connection with the characters that makes these films so great, it's this connection that makes the audience fork out their money happily.
As an anime/manga Naruto has had the benifit of character development over the course of hundreds of episodes and volumes. Transferring this character development to the big screen may seem like a big ask...but it can be done.
It is often joked how long the Lord of the Rings films are when played back to back, estimated over seven hours in total. Without their long running times the LOTR films would have been shabby and rushed. The same can be said for the HP films (on a side note HP six was a bit rubbish anyway) which are farely long too.
I've worked out the perfect points to begin and end the film. Start exactly how the anime does, showing Naruto's isolation and rubbish ninja skills. Finish with the defeat of Zabuza and Haku at the newly constructed Naruto Bridge with Naruto's return to the Hidden Leaf Village. This is the perfect story arc for the character which can be told in the constraints of a two hour film...though it would highly benifit from an extra half hour would push the film into Oscar worthy territory (Yes. Oscar worthy).
So the big question then...who should play Naruto? Do we bring in a child star with a couple of films under his belt? Or do we send out a nation wide search for an unknown actor ready for their big break. I'm more inclined to the latter, child stars are all well and good if the child literally screams to be play the role. However I believe it would be far, far better to have the majority of the Naruto cast be unknowns. For instance the Harry Potter cast were all unknowns, the Lord of the Rings cast were basically unknowns and the Twilight cast were also unknowns. Again you may not like these films but the point still stands. Like Daniel Radcliff will always be Harry Potter to us, the child who plays Naruto will then come to be known to us as Naruto.
On a final note concerning the child actors, I think it would be best for the kids to start the film aged fourteen, not twelve. I have to reasons for this, the first being that child actors are more often than not very, very bad actors. Second, you can't tell how good looking the kid's going to be when he/she grows up. Think about it, remember that kid from AI and The Sixth Sense. Basically he got really ugly as he grew up, a bummer because he was adorable as a child. If you bump the age up from twelve to fourteen, it would be a lot easier to tell if the kid is going to grow up ugly or not - as cruel as that sounds. Come on, Daniel Radcliff is hardly the biggest hunk going!
Hollywood...take this film seriously! Don't do a Last Air Bender or Dragonball. Aim this film for the older audiences, make it a 12A and leave it at that. There is too much action and violence for this film to be played off and some crappy Disney cash in. You'll make way, way more money by taking this film seriously. Just because it's a manga/anime doesn't mean it can't be done well.
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