After the moderate success of Power Rangers, Lionsgate looks like it is pressing forward with its live-action adaptation of Naruto.

The Hollywood Reporter says that Lionsgate has commissioned Jon and Erich Hoeber to do a rewrite of the script, which Michael Gracey is currently attached to direct.

The Hoebers previously adapted the comic book series Red into a surprisingly brilliant film (and an okay sequel) for Lionsgate subsidiary Summit Entertainment, and recently penned upcoming Jason Statham monster movie Meg.

LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 11: Writers Jon Hoeber (L) and Erich Hoeber attend the premiere of Summit Entertainment's 'RED 2' at Westwood Village on July 11, 2013 in Los Angeles, California.pinterest
David Livingston//Getty Images

The Naruto movie is also going to be produced by Avi Arad, who was behind this year's Ghost in the Shell with Scarlett Johansson, which had disappointing box office returns amid plenty of "whitewashing" controversy.

For the uninitiated, Naruto is a long-running manga and anime franchise focusing on a group of heroic ninjas as they train to be the best and save the world from evil. Think Dragon Ball Z but with shuriken.

The show aired on the popular Toonami block on Cartoon Network in the United States, while the UK got an infamously cut-down TV edit on Jetix (RIP). Luckily, the DVDs are all uncut.

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Naruto has spawned *tons* of animated movies, merchandise, video games, and two sequel series in Naruto: Shippuden and Boruto.

Will a live-action Hollywood movie take the franchise to new heights of popularity, or will it be an absolute trainwreck like Dragon Ball: Evolution?


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Joe Anderton

Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer and resident Welsh person at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. 

In his time he's covered a host of live events, interviewed celebrities big and small and crowbarred a countless amount of great/awful (delete as appropriate) puns into articles. 

A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe's main interest is in video gaming. Although particularly a PlayStation gamer, he plays across Xbox, Nintendo and PC/Steam Deck, and likes to keep tabs on many games he's not got the time to play.

Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish (which you really should do).