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Although their attempt to remake AKIRA as a movie about white people went down in flames, WB has not given up on manga source material—now they are planning a movie based on BLEACH, the hugely popular manga and anime by Tite Kubo. Will this be another, heh heh, whitewash? Probably—because Hollywood fears Asians as leads—but at least Masi Oka (from Heroes) is on board as a producer. Others involved are producer/potential director Peter Segal (GET SMART, THE LONGEST YARD), screenwriter Dan Mazeau (WRATH OF THE TITANS), and Oka and Michael Ewing of Callahan Filmworks. Viz Productions’ Jason Hoffs and Branon Coluccio are also in the production mix.

BLEACH—which follows young Ichigo Kurosaki as he uses his Soul Reaper powers to help mankind—aired on Adult Swim back in the heyday of anime/manga, so it has some pre-awareness.

VIZ Media, the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in the North America, announced today that Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired the live-action feature film rights to the hit manga and anime property BLEACH. The announcement comes after another successful year for BLEACH in print, digital publishing, cable television, streaming video, consumer products and video-on-demand.
 
“BLEACH has built a huge international following in its manga and anime formats, and we’re excited that Warner Bros. shares our belief that BLEACH can also become a fantastic live-action film,” said Jason Hoffs of VIZ Productions, VIZ Media’s Hollywood-based production company. “BLEACH is an exciting opportunity to mix Japanese and Hollywood storytelling to create something new for the big screen, and we’re thrilled for the opportunity to further expose its unique characters and story to film audiences everywhere.”
 
Peter Segal (GET SMART, THE LONGEST YARD) of Callahan Filmworks is producing with an eye toward directing. The film’s creative team also includes screenwriter Dan Mazeau, who recently penned Warner Bros.’ upcoming sequel to CLASH OF THE TITANS. Callahan Filmworks partner Michael Ewing and Masi Oka (best known for his roles on NBC’s HEROES and CBS’s HAWAII FIVE-0) will produce. From VIZ Productions, Hoffs will serve as Producer, and Branon Coluccio will be Executive Producer. Screenplay development will commence in 2012.
 
The popular BLEACH animated and manga series, created by Tite Kubo, follows the adventures of Ichigo, a teenager with the ability to see ghosts. When his family is attacked by a Hollow — a malevolent lost soul – Ichigo encounters Rukia, a Soul Reaper tasked to hunting Hollows, and inadvertently absorbs her powers. Now, Ichigo must dedicate his life to protecting the innocent and helping tortured souls find peace.
 
BLEACH is a tremendously successful multimedia property around the world. The manga has been licensed to more than a dozen countries and has over 75 million copies in print in Japan alone. In North America, the manga (rated ‘T’ for Teens) has consistently appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list for Manga and the Neilsen BookScan Top 50 Graphic Novels list, selling more than 2.1 million copies across 36 volumes.
 
The BLEACH manga is also available digitally through VIZManga.com and for download through the VIZ Manga App for iPad®, iPhone® and iPod® touch, where it has proven to be a top-seller. The series was recently sped up to bring North American readers up-to-date with the latest story arc in Japan, culminating in it being featured in WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP ALPHA, the groundbreaking digital manga magazine that VIZ Media just launched at the end of January 2012.
 
The BLEACH animated series (rated TV-14) has topped the ratings

1 COMMENT

  1. Strange cause the Author Tite Kubo went on the record of saying:

    “In recent years, rumors have proliferated within the U.S. entertainment industry about deals to make popular manga into live-action films. Kubo dismissed the idea of turning “Bleach” into a film with real actors. “If it were possible to do ‘Bleach’ as a live-action movie, I wouldn’t have drawn the manga. I want to draw something that can only be done as a manga.””

    how many zeros changed his mind?

    Source:http://web.archive.org/web/20090423115417/http://articles.latimes.com/2008/aug/28/entertainment/etw-kuboweb28

  2. Good for Tite! He deserves the paycheck!

    But I still have memories of that god-awful Dragonball movie in my head. If they’re going that route…I’d rather they just cut Tite the check and give up now.

  3. Since Bleach is on its final arc. i hope the Tite Kubo is involved on a high level. i can only see this doing well if they Make it an arc per film:

    Karakura Town Arc

    Soul Society Arc(2 Films)

    Arrancar/Hueco Mundo Arc(2 films)

    Fake Karakura Town Arc

    Fullbring Arc

    Holy Blood War Arc(?)

    The fact the characters go to a more american-like HS helps, but they need to keep the main cast Asian(except Chad, since he’s part Mexican, they can make him full.). I can imagine them taking a slant with soul society as its appearance and lexicon to people is according to their native culture and use that as an excuse to white wash it.

    The Hollows they will use that “make em realistic!” trend in Hollywood, but they should keep em more ethereal and and not turn them in to animals but more al a hellraiser as their form is a personification of some aspect of their past life.

    OK im done they’re going to botch this anyways. have fun in Development Hell WB.

  4. Oh god no… leave my Bleach alone.

    I feel they would have to approach this from a stand alone story, the content of the manga is just too great and ultimately, depth and probably minor characters that were explored in the manga would be left out all together.

    Damn ‘hollywood’ – another great show about to be screwed with

  5. do not mess with bleach, the dragon ball movie was crap, this one will be crap because Manga is not meant for live action