A live-actionNarutomovie is in the works from director Destin Daniel Cretton, and the project could not be happening at a better time considering the current state of the franchise. One of the most successful manga series of all time,Narutodebuted in 1999 and has since taken over the world with an incredibly popular anime series as well as plenty of games, movies, and other products. Given how bigNarutois, plus how Hollywood is always looking for promising IPs,it was only a matter of time before Naruto Uzumaki got the live-action treatment.
TheNarutolive-action filmhad been in development hell for a while, butin February 2024, it was officially announced thatShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringsfilmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton was going to direct the adaptation.The announcement included a quote fromNaruto’s creator Masashi Kishimoto, who said there was no one better to bringNarutoto live-action than Cretton. Whilegetting aNarutomovie right won’t be easy, revisiting the early days of the number one hyperactive, knucklehead ninja in a Hollywood movie should be a lot of fun considering whereNaruto’s story is now.
Naruto’s Live-Action Movie Will Restore The Franchise’s Original Premise After Boruto’s Changes
A Naruto Movie Would Bring The Franchise Back To Basics
TheNarutofranchise changed a lot in the past decade, particularly with the start ofBoruto. TheNarutomanga concluded in 2014, whereas theNaruto Shippudenanime series wrapped up in 2017. Since then,Boruto, which follows Naruto and Hinata’s son as well as plenty of other legacy characters, has been the flagship title of theNarutobrand. WhileBorutois a sequel toNaruto, the former is a very different story compared to the latter. Set over a decade after the end of theFourth Great Ninja War,Borutodeals with aliens and highly advanced tech.
Since the announcement of theNarutomovie, Destin Daniel Cretton has been confirmed as the director of Sony and Marvel’s untitled Tom HollandSpider-Mansequel, which comes out on July 24th, 2026.
Compared to Naruto turning himself into a giant shuriken to trick Zabuza, Boruto and his friends taking down all-powerful beings from another planet who are part of a celestial clan that was behind the creation of chakra itself feels like a completely different show.It’s been a while sinceNarutohas been about ninjas using their skills to outsmart their opponentsamidst political games played between villages and secret players, which is something that the live-actionNarutomovie can recapture. Of course, it will be a different media, meaning changes will have to be made to the story.
Naruto Will Need A Lot Of Live-Action Sequels Before It Gets To The Otsutsuki & Aliens
It Would Take Several Movies To Cover Naruto From Start To Finish
Although theNarutofranchise has become very different in the last few years, it would be unfair to blame it onBoruto. Byintroducing Kaguya and the Otsutsukiwhen Madara already seemedinvincible,Narutobroke its power scale and forever changed the series.On the one hand, the Otsutsuki storyline added some interesting lore into the series and gave Naruto and Sasuke a common enemy. On the other hand, it expanded the scope of the story too broadly and made it difficult forBorutoto be about anything else.
Hollywood’s 12 Live-Action Anime Adaptations, Ranked Worst To Best
The history of live-action adaptations in Hollywood has been full of ups and downs, but it appears to be improving with time and experience.
Fortunately for those who were not fans of the Zetsu and Otsutsuki twist inNaruto, it should take a while for this upcoming live-action franchise to get to that part of the story. Assuming the firstNarutomovie is well-received and does well at the box office, Lionsgate will have several story arcs to cover. Depending on how the franchise is paced,Narutocould be a long-running movie series with multiple entries, allowing audiences to grow up with the characters.
