J.J. Abrams To Direct Adaptation Of Your Name

Wait…What?!

The Star Wars franchise owes a lot to J.J Abrams. He helped to bring it out of its slumber and give us the now beloved Force Awakens. He’s a very competent filmmaker whose talent can’t be denied.

But what’s this we hear about he and Paramount Pictures planning to make a Hollywood version of Makoto Shinkai’s anime movie Your Name?! 

We’re not saying that anime shouldn’t be adapted (despite the recent influx of horrible attempts) but there are just some things that you should really consider leaving alone. For example, Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name! After all, many consider it to be one of the greatest entries to ever come from the medium.

Though who are we to criticize , especially since Makoto Shinkai himself has given the project his blessing.

According to an article on Crunchyroll –

According to Hollywood Reporter, Paramount Pictures and J.J. Abrams via his Bad Robot banner (Alias, Lost, Star Trek, Star Wars) are teaming up to adapt hit anime movie Your Name.  Oscar-nominee Eric Heisserer (Arrival) has been tapped to write a script for a live-action movie.

Also producing is Genki Kawamura, the producer of the original 2016 film. Paramount and Bad Robot will work with Toho Co., which produced the original, on the development of the project. Toho will handle distribution of the film in Japan.

“Your Name is a film created with the innate imaginations of a Japanese team and put together in a domestic medium,” said Shinkai in a statement. “When such a work is imbued with Hollywood filmmaking, we may see new possibilities that we had been completely unaware of. I am looking forward to the live-action film with excited anticipation.”

There is no doubt there will be some who see this is as a terrible decision, but then again with enough talent people behind the camera, perhaps You Name’s beauty will shine even in a western adaptation.