Earlier this week, Lionsgate announced that it was beginning to search for the live-action members of Team 7 as the studio is charging forward with a Western Naruto movie. Set to be directed by Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s Destin Daniel Cretton, the shonen franchise’s creator, Masashi Kishimoto, has given the project his blessing. While all the signs are looking good for this eventual project, there are still some big questions that are surrounding this live-action adaptation. One of the biggest is how much of the original series this feature-length film will cover, and we have some ideas as to what Naruto could experience in Hollywood.
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To start, One Piece can often be seen as the “gold standard” when it comes to live-action adaptations, though this has been in part due to its slavish devotion to its source material. This is helped by Eiichiro Oda acting as Executive Producer, wherein all decisions have to receive his approval before being implemented within the Netflix series. Obviously, since a movie can’t be the same length as a full eight-to ten-episode series, we need to take that fact into account, creating shortcuts for the live-action Team 7 as a result. If this movie were to stick entirely to the source material, the film’s main conflict would most likely be against Zabuza and Haku, which is far from a big enough threat for a Naruto movie to cover.
When it comes to the first major arc of the Naruto franchise, you’d be hard-pressed not to believe that the Chunin Exams didn’t fit the bill. What this tournament-style exam storyline did was not just introduce us to plenty of ninjas that were a part of the Hidden Leaf, and the ninja world at large; it presented a monumental challenge for Naruto Uzumaki and his classmates to overcome. Covering a far less meaty iteration of this arc would work well at establishing the main trio of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, while also peppering in plenty of the allies and enemies who have remained a big part of the shonen series.
What adapting a shortened iteration of this arc would do is introduce two major antagonists at the same time, aka Gaara and Orochimaru. When it comes to the sand-manipulating ninja, Gaara was introduced as something of a dark reflection of Naruto himself, housing a sand demon that gave him wild abilities but also made him a malevolent force. While Orochimaru is far different from any of the young ninjas who would be given a live-action makeover, the snake villain represents a threat that blends together Konoha’s past and present in one major package.
Too Big For Naruto’s First Movie
There are simply too many elements from the Naruto series to cram into one live-action movie, and attempting to do so might make the movie unable to tell a convincing story. For example, the Akatsuki are an amazing part of the franchise, but their influence begins to truly take effect during Naruto: Shippuden, which is definitely a series that would be far better left for potential sequels should Lionsgate ever hit that point. Don’t even get us started on elements like Madara Uchiha, the Otsusuki, and more, as it would be nigh impossible to introduce these elements right off the bat.
Naruto’s cast is an unwieldy one on paper, though getting a glimpse at characters like Rock Lee, Neji, Hinata, Choji, and more would be a good way to promote how “lived-in” this universe can be. Even with so many pieces to implement, there is certainly a way for a live-action Naruto movie to work with the early elements of the shonen franchise left in tact.
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