ADV films announced at the May’s Cannes film festival about the future Neon Genesis Evangelion live action film which has already begun production.  ADV will be working with studio Gainax and WETA workshop, the special effects studio behind The Lord of the Rings to bring you one of the most influential anime tittles in history to real life. ADV President John Ledford described the ADV Films/WETA/GAINAX collaboration as “truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.”  So far details are still sketchy but ADV has announced that their budget is $100 million, which is considerately a lot for an anime title.   The movie will be based on a retelling of the series and it will consist of an international cast.  Hideaki Anno, creator of Evangelion shared his enthusiasm about the movie, “Evangelion was created with a very Japanese sensibility.  In the live-action version, though, I suggest that the creators let their imaginations roam, unconstrained by the framework of the existing anime.  There are some very surprising ideas in the new designs plans-things I’d never even thought of before.  I was amazed to encounter such different ways if thinking about the project.  I’m very much looking forward to seeing the re-creation of the title.”  Unfortunately Anno will not be a part of this project since he’s working on his own live-action adaptation of the anime series Cutey Honey.

by Saiyijin Prince