Naruto's live-action movie bags a Marvel director, but there's still no reason to be excited about it

Believe it or not, the live-action film adaptation of Naruto presses onwards, having now attached a director to the upcoming movie.

While a Naruto movie has been in the works as far back as 2015, not much headway has been made on it until last year, when it was confirmed that Tasha Huo (Red Sonja) is attached to the film as a screenwriter. Now, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, it appears the film has a director in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' Destin Daniel Cretton. Obviously this is quite a big development for a project that's been in development for so long, and certainly makes it seem like we'll actually see the film within the next few years.

Creator of the original manga Masashi Kishimoto actually shared a statement on the announcement, saying, "When I heard of Destin’s attachment, it happened to be right after watching a blockbuster action film of his, and I thought he would be the perfect director for Naruto," Kishimoto said. "After enjoying his other films and understanding that his forte is in creating solid dramas about people, I became convinced that there is no other director for Naturo. 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."

Personally, I couldn't be less excited. Sure, last year's One Piece adaptation from Netflix was a hit with fans, though it still doesn't hold a candle to the animated original, and this week saw the release of the live-action take on Avatar: The Last Airbender which has been met with some pretty mixed reviews. On top of that, Shang-Chi just wasn't that good! Naruto is a mixed bag overall, sure, but the original series has some honestly stellar moments of animation - how could a live-action movie ever top the classic Rock Lee weights moment? The answer is it can't, but hey, we all know why this movie is happening (it's money, just so we're all on the same page).

With the Naruto movie still so early in development, a release date hasn't been set just yet, so you'll have to keep an eye out if you are interested at all.