Draft:Naruto (film)

Naruto is an upcoming American fantasy martial arts adventure film, written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. It is a live-action adaptation of the manga series of the same name, by Masashi Kishimoto.

Development
On August 30, 2013, in an interview with Kotaku's Eric Jou, film producer Avi Arad stated that he was pitched a Naruto film. On July 30, 2015, The Tracking Board revealed that Michael Gracey was in negotiations to helm a live adaption of Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto, with Avi Arad producing, and the piece being overseen by Erik Feig, Geoff Shaevitz, and Kelly O'Malley. On July 31, 2015, Variety confirmed that Lionsgate had signed Gracey to direct the adaptation, with the studio in negotiations for the film rights to the Naruto series. Additionally, Variety revealed that Avi Arad would produce alongside his son, Ari Arad, through Arad Productions. On March 23, 2016, The Hollywood Reporter announced that VIZ Media had partnered with United Talent Agency to develop live-action content based on its catalog of titles, which include Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, One-Punch Man, One Piece, and Tokyo Ghoul, as well as Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon and Pokémon''.

On December 17, at 2016 Jump Festa, Lionsgate and director Gracey were confirmed to be working on an adaptation of Kishimoto's Naruto manga. Additionally, at 2016 Jump Festa, pre-production art was revealed, after which Kishimoto confirmed himself to be involved in the production of Gracey's film. On August 15, 2017, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Lionsgate has commissioned Jon and Erich Hoeber to do a rewrite of the script, which Gracey was attached to direct. On March 29, 2018, in an interview with Collider.com's Dave Trumbore, director Gracey stated that, "So many Hollywood adaptations of really popular manga series just don't get it right, and for me what was really important was that if I was gonna do Naruto, I wanted to actually work with Kishimoto and get a script to a stage where he would look at it and be excited about realizing it. Because no one knows the world better than the person who created it." On November 22, 2023, Variety revealed that Tasha Huo was developing a script for Naruto.

On February 23, 2024, Deadline Hollywood reported that Destin Daniel Cretton was tapped to write and direct the adaption of Kishimoto's Naruto. Additionally, The Hollywood Reporter stated that Cretton would produce alongside Jeyun Munford, Avi Arad, Ari Arad, Emmy Yu, and Jeremy Latcham. Cretton received his blessings from Kishimoto, after a visit in Tokyo, with Kishimoto stating that when he heard that Cretton would be directing, he thought that he was the perfect choice, to which he added, "In actually meeting Destin, I also found him to be an open-minded director who was willing to embrace my input, and felt strongly that we would be able to cooperate together in the production process."

Filming
Principal photography is scheduled to begin in late 2024.

Post-production
On March 21, 2018, Animal Logic revealed themselves to be the visual effects company that would work on most of the visual effects on Naruto. Described as "a groundbreaking VFX, live-action film", it was to be co-produced by Animal Logic, alongside Arad's Arad Productions. Co-founder of Animal Logic, Zareh Nalbandian, stated of the announcement, "It's a project [Gracey] really loves, a live action/parallel universe fantasy [...] I'd love to bring such a big international production to Australia."