Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, American-born Chinese) will write and direct Lionsgate’s feature-length live-action film based on Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto.
In Naruto, Kishimoto combined a ruthless refinement of the shonen manga themes of perseverance and drama with the irresistible childhood story of the class clown at a school for ninjas, creating an internationally beloved manga hit and subsequent anime adaptations. Lionsgate announced that a live-action film was in development a year after the manga ended in 2014, but there was little movement on the project in the decade afterward.
With writer and director credits on most of his projects, Cretton has already shown a deft hand with both action direction and form adaptations, and that work seems to have met with enthusiastic approval from Kishimoto. According to given a statement The Hollywood Reporterthe mangaka heard of Crettin’s involvement immediately after seeing “a blockbuster action film of his,” and thought he would be a perfect fit Naruto.
“After enjoying his other films and understanding that his strength lies in creating solid dramas about people,” Kishimoto said, “I became convinced that there is no other director for Nature. By actually meeting Destin, I also experienced him as an open-minded director who was willing to embrace my input and strongly believed that we could work together in the production process.”
That “blockbuster action movie of his” is almost certainly from the MCU Shang Chiand Cretton is currently filming one Wonderful man TV series for Marvel Studios, featuring a Shang Chi sequel somewhere on the horizon. It is not clear how the Naruto movie fits that schedule, but it’s safe to say you have a few years to work on your opening night cosplay.