With the criticism of the Death Note Netflix film and the live-action announcement with J. J. Abrams directing Your Name. you think Hollywood would take the hint and stop making live-action movies of anime. However, that won’t stop them when they have permission and money. Already mentioned a while back, Skydance Television announced that they want to do a live-action series of the anime Sword Art Online. Recently, Skydance Television announced that they found some new writers to help lead the project. These writer-producers Patrick Massett and John Zinman made a deal with Kadowawa Corp to help create the live-action series. Patrick and John are responsible for the works of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001 version with Angelina Jolie), The Blacklist and Friday Night Lights.
The pilot episode will, however, be written together with Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar). Here is a quote from Hollywood Reporter:
“Patrick and John have shown incredible range in their storytelling capabilities, from subtle character drama to big, world-building action, and we are beyond fortunate that they have joined the Skydance family,” said Skydance Television president Marcy Ross. “We’re already deep in development with Patrick, John and Laeta on our larger-than-life Skydance SAO series in which we aim not only to satisfy the franchise’s enthusiastic sci-fi and anime fan base but also to appeal to new TV audiences the world over.”
“The fantastical world of SAO offers an unparalleled opportunity to tell stories that resonate on both an epic and human scale. We couldn’t ask for better partners than Skydance and Laeta to help us bring this global pop culture phenomenon to new life on television,” said Massett and Zinman in a joint statement.
What do you guys think of this news?