Lone Wolf & Cub Film Rights Acquired with Justin Lin

[craigdbfan]

Justin Lin's Lone Wolf & Cub

Kamala Films has acquired film rights to the Kazuo Koike-created 1970s Japanese manga Lone Wolf and Cub, attaching David & Janet Peoples to write the script. Fast Five‘s Justin Lin had already been attached to direct. Kamala’s Marissa McMahon will produce with 1212 Entertainment’s Elizabeth Grave and Joshua Long, with Roberto Grande exec producing.

The original was set feudal Edo period, and chronicles the story of Ogami Itto, the Shogun’s elite executioner. In an attempt to take his position, the rival Yagyu clan falsely accuses Itto of a crime and murders his wife. Disgraced, Itto is forced to wander Japan with his three-year-old son Daigoro as an assassin for hire, earning the title “Lone Wolf and Cub.” Ultimately, Itto and Daigoro seek revenge on the Yagyu clan. Koike’s manga, published in the United States by Dark Horse Comics, is considered a seminal work.


The film marks the first collaboration between Kamala Films and 1212 Entertainment. Kamala is currently in development on Jeff Guinn’s Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde with Furst Films, and the screen adaptation of the Curtis Sittenfeld novel American Wife with Red Crown. 1212 is producing an adaptation of the Taito video game Space Invaders.


The scribes have storied credits including Blade Runner, Unforgiven and Twelve Monkeys, while Lin is working on Universal’s sixth installment of The Fast and the Furious. “I’ve long admired the Peoples and their enduring body of work,” Lin said. “They’re a wonderful match for Lone Wolf and Cub and I’m really looking forward to collaborating with them on this powerful, epic tale.” CAA reps the writers and Lin and the helmer’s also repped by Cinetic and Sloss Eckhouse LawCo.

I seriously hope they give it their all. I like the writers and I actually think Justin Lin isn't a bad director so the potential is there.

I just hope they don't modernize it and set it in America. That would seriously be the last straw.

I'm cautiously optimistic.

 

[Wolfwood]

DiCaprio for Lone Wolf.

No, but really, It'd be interesting if this turns out to be an American film with an all Asian cast.

 

[TheComicbookKid]

DiCaprio for Lone Wolf.

No, but really, It'd be interesting if this turns out to be an American film with an all Asian cast.

t:was just going to say. Waiting for the white guy to be cast in .....

 

[terry78]

We'll see what they do. You kinda need Spielberg/Oliver Stone pull to get an all Asian cast around here.

 

[craigdbfan]

Not really. Carl Rinsch is doing it with 47 Ronin. Granted Keanu Reeves is the lead but the rest of the cast isn't only Asian but actually Japanese and they got to film a good portion of the film in Japan.

So it's possible he'll get an all Asian cast seeing as Justin Lin has actually turned in movies with great BO returns unlike Rinsch who got the cast based on Ridley Scott's apprenticeship credit alone.

 

[dude stannis]

We'll see what they do. You kinda need Spielberg/Oliver Stone pull to get an all Asian cast around here.

Lin's pretty big sheeit after the last two F/F films.

The only Asian leading man that Hollywood would trust to carry the film I can think of is Jet Li. Of course there's no difference between Chinese and Japanese people in the eyes of our idiotic neighborhood studio executive.

 

[Asgard]

Should film in Japan using all Japanese cast. They could do a reimagining in an American setting but that would suck.

 

[Eddie Dean]

They could do a reimagining in an American setting but that would suck.

You mean Road to Perdition?

 

[The Morningstar]

I was just going to say they've already done an American version in Road to Perdition.

 

[lance421]

We'll see what they do. You kinda need Spielberg/Oliver Stone pull to get an all Asian cast around here.

yes!!

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

Heard about the manga when Aronofsky was trying to get an adaptation off the ground. I'd rather have him helming the project but maybe Lin could surprise me.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I enjoyed Fast Five way more than Black Swan.

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

To each his own. I for one would've be interested to see Aronofsky's take. Anyway, the screenwriters' credits has certainly convince me that they could tackle this material and add that with Lin's direction would certainly prove an interesting result.

 

[Raiden]

I seriously doubt the movie will be set in feudal Japan in the Edo period, or with an all-Asian cast. Most likely it will be Americanized and modernized to appeal to as big an audience as possible.

 

[Eddie Dean]

Nicolas Cage is Lone Wolf
Amanda Seyfried is Cub

in Justin Lin's
WOLF

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I seriously doubt the movie will be set in feudal Japan in the Edo period, or with an all-Asian cast. Most likely it will be Americanized and modernized to appeal to as big an audience as possible.

Agreed.

 

[Asgard]

You mean Road to Perdition?

Wow, I saw the movie but I never thought to connect it with Lone Wolf and Cub.

So they already have an American reimagining of the story. Time to bring the original to the big screen...again.

I wonder if theyre going to use the Lone Wolf 2100 as a source.

 

[TheVileOne]

Darren Aronofsky wanted to do it as a western for his version.

 

[Project862006]

WOW just looked the screen writers this has huge potential now

 

[Evil Twin]

Assuming it's not updated in setting, I could see Ken Watanabe being a fairly realistic choice for the lead.

 

[terry78]

I'm thinking if they do this as a period piece in Japan, they'll do it with American/British/Canadian Asian actors and have them just speak English.

 

[Gabe99]

LONE WOLF & CUB Optioned For U.S. Live-Action Movie

Iconic Manga ‘Wolf and Cub’ Set for Live-Action Remake by SP International (EXCLUSIVE)

Iconic Japanese comic book property “Lone Wolf and Cub: Final Conflict” is to be made as a live action, English language movie by producer Steven Paul’s SP International Pictures.


The company acquired remake and sequel rights Koike Kazuo Gekiga Sonjuku, Inc., who produced the motion picture “Kozure Okami: Sono Chisaki Te Ni” in 1993. It plans a remake that will shoot from 2017. The “Lone Wolf and Cub” property first emerged in 1970 as a comic book written by Koike Kazuo and illustrated by Goseki Kojima. Their stories were subsequently adapted as six feature movies starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four stage plays and a TV series.

“Final Conflict” sees a noble samurai plotted against and framed in an assassination conspiracy the samurai disobeys his Shogun’s orders and becomes an assassin for hire. “I have been a huge fan of the property for many years and can’t tell you how excited I am to have the opportunity to embark on this journey,” Pau said in a statement.


Los Angeles-based Paul has become a major axis between Hollywood and Japan. He previously produced Marvel Comic’s “Ghost Rider 1 & 2” and Namco Bandai’s “Tekken 1 & 2.” He is currently producing a live action adaptation of the manga comic “Ghost In The Shell” starring Scarlett Johansson and Takeshi Kitano. Paramount Pictures distributing the feature film worldwide.

Paul’s “Ghost in the Shell” project has been criticized by some fans for racially inappropriate casting, notably with Johansson playing an originally Asian woman. Paul told Variety that “Final Conflict” will be shot with an essentially Japanese cast. Paul has recently struck production deals in both China and Thailand.

His related SP Releasing is a theatrical distributor releasing up to 10 movies per year and maintains a worldwide home entertainment deal with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. This summer SP Releasing will be theatrically distributing “Running Wild” starring Sharon Stone, and releasing ‘The Dog Lover” with James Remar, Lea Thompson, Jayson Blair, Allison Paige and directed by Alex Ranarivelo.

 

[Gabe99]

Exclusive: Justin Lin talks Lone Wolf And Cub

Director Justin Lin is currently doing the promotional rounds for Star Trek Beyond. But when Empire chatted to him for an upcoming spoiler special podcast, we couldn’t resist asking about another project the filmmaker has bubbling away: a long-mooted adaptation of the acclaimed manga comic Lone Wolf And Cub.

Lin has been attached to the project for some time, and had planned to press ahead with the adaptation, before J.J. Abrams came a-calling. “For the last year and a half I've been on this Star Trek detour,” Lin explained to us, “the greatest detour of my career. But I'm excited because Lone Wolf And Cub is one of many projects that I can't wait to go back and revisit in the next two weeks when we're done with all the press.”

Lin appeared to imply that he plans to have an Asian cast. “Five-to-ten years ago, they would have wanted Keanu Reeves to play the dad... I think the cool thing about it is that filmmaking has gone global. There's many ways to make a movie and I think Hollywood has to evolve.”

First published in 1970 by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima, Lone Wolf And Cub is widely regarded as a classic manga, telling an epic historic tale of shogun assassins. Seven films adapting the series have already been produced in its native Japan, but nothing from Hollywood – until now.

Lin is convinced that “this is the best time to make a movie like Lone Wolf And Cub – and to be able to really embrace the spirit and the essence of what makes it great.”

Until then, the director has to get Star Trek Beyond out the door – that’s due for a July 22 release – and he has plenty of other projects to keep him occupied, including his rumoured return to the Fast & Furious series that made his name. Plenty to keep him – ahem – Linterested.

 

[Loki882]

Wow, I saw the movie but I never thought to connect it with Lone Wolf and Cub.

So they already have an American reimagining of the story. Time to bring the original to the big screen...again.

I wonder if they're going to use the Lone Wolf 2100 as a source.

Max Allan Collins, who wrote the original Road to Perdition graphic novel, called it an "unabashed homage" to Lone Wolf and Cub.

 

[sweetre15]

All of this sounds awesome so far