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I hope you aren't already sick of live-action anime adaptations, as Crunchyroll and Sony are certainly thinking hard about making more of them

We've had some stinkers over the years, though, so they'll need to tread lightly.

Demon Slayer: Mugen Train key art showing Tanjiro covered in deep red flames, other characters surrounding him.
Image credit: ufotable

It's sounding like more live-action anime projects are likely on the way, as Crunchyroll and Sony are interested in developing some.

The superhero well isn't exactly dry, as there's a whole ocean of IP to adapt from, but for Marvel, apart from its big success with Deadpool & Wolverine, the MCU has been waning in popularity since the release of Avengers: Endgame. That could be part of a broader superhero fatigue, James Gunn's new DCU will be the real test of that, but Hollywood quickly moved on to video game adaptations, with movies like the Sonic the Hedgehog pair of films and the Super Mario Bros. Movie all doing very well, and shows like The Last of Us and Fallout proving very popular. But there's another IP mine that Hollywood is clearly interested in tapping: anime.

We've already seen it with the live-action One Piece adaptation, which has done incredible well, and Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton is currently working on a Naruto movie - there was also those bad live-action Cowboy Bebop show, Death Note movie, and Ghost in the Shell adaptation, but still, clearly anime is where it's at next alongside video games). So it shouldn't be surprising to hear that Sony and Crunchyroll are having discussions about more live-action adaptations.

Speaking to Nikkei about Crunchyroll's increasing global popularity (as translated by ComicBook.com), the streaming service's CEO Rahul Purini said that they "believe that we can take advantage of being part of Sony Pictures Entertainment. We are discussing the possibility of making live-action versions of some anime IP with our Japanese partners and parent company. We are considering producing them not just for Crunchyroll, but for other platforms that are interested in them, to increase interest in anime."

That obviously doesn't suggest just what adaptations the pair might be working on, but Sony does own a number of anime studios, and has a share in big names like Toei Animation too, even if it's just a small share. Essentially, expect more adaptations of all your favourite anime, for better or worse.

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