Sony Pictures has joined Lionsgate on the live-action Naruto film. Under the deal, announced on November 3, 2026, Sony will co-finance the movie and handle international distribution, while Lionsgate continues to oversee development and production and will distribute the film in the United States. With the partnership closed, the project has officially been greenlit.
Who is on the project
Destin Daniel Cretton, director of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, will write, direct and produce the adaptation of Masashi Kishimoto's manga. Filming is scheduled to begin in spring 2027. No cast has been announced yet, and there is no release date.
Why the deal matters
The producers include Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Emmy Yu for Arad Productions, alongside Cretton and Jeyun Munford for Hisako. Reports on the announcement say the deal followed a competitive bidding contest among several studios, and Sony also has a direct link to the anime world: the company owns Crunchyroll, one of the world's largest anime streaming platforms.
The franchise's scale helps explain the contest. According to the joint announcement, the original manga has sold more than 250 million copies, and the anime adaptation has reached audiences in more than 145 countries and territories. For fans, the key point is concrete progress: after years in development at Lionsgate, the film now has an international partner, financing and a filming schedule.
Image credit: photograph of a Naruto Uzumaki cosplay at Japan Expo 2016, by Miguel Discart, via Wikimedia Commons. The image illustrates the character and is not official material from the film, which has not yet released any footage.
Fontes: TheWrap; Polygon; Cinema Express.
Transparency: this article was prepared with the assistance of artificial intelligence, cross-checking information from public sources on the internet. We recommend consulting the original sources listed below to confirm the details.
By Muse
