Believe it! The globally popular anime and manga series Naruto has finally found the director and writer that will bring Konoha to life on the big screen. Lionsgate has tapped Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings helmer Destin Daniel Cretton to lead the project as the company finally looks to get the adaptation off the ground. In addition to penning the script and going behind the camera, Cretton will also serve as a producer alongside Jeyun Munford under his Hisako banner. The move will reunite the director and the studio after their previous collaboration on The Glass Castle.

A Naruto film has been in the works at Lionsgate for some time now, first being brought up in 2015. Since then, the project has languished with no real movement until screenwriter Tasha Huo boarded late last year. With the addition of Cretton, however, the story of the young ninja Naruto Uzumaki should begin moving much faster toward production. It’s unclear if Huo is still involved in any way, but the film still features Avi Arad, Ari Arad, and Emmy Yu of Arad Productions, the team behind the upcoming Borderlands film, on its production team alongside Jeremy Latcham.

Created by legendary mangaka Masashi Kishimoto, Naruto follows the adventures of its titular eternally enthusiastic and driven young ninja as he pursues his dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his home, the Hidden Leaf Village. Sealed inside him, however, is a nine-tailed beast that attacked his home years ago, making him an outcast among his fellow villagers. The series tracks his growth from an immature outcast into a respectful and powerful ninja fighting alongside his friends to protect Konoha from a variety of threats with wicked powers of their own. In Japan’s Weekly Shonen Jump, Naruto enjoyed a wildly fruitful run from 1999 to 2014, selling 250 million copies of collected volumes over 60 countries and territories worldwide while spawning multiple animated series, including the popular sequel, Boruto.

Cretton Has Kishimoto’s Stamp of Approval for ‘Naruto’

Thanks to Shang-Chi, Cretton earned much-deserved recognition as both a writer and director, going on to work the Disney+ series adaptation American Born Chinese and develop a sequel to the Simu Liu-led film. His other features, Short Term 12 and Just Mercy, have also garnered award buzz. Most importantly when adapting something as beloved and with as much extensive lore as Naruto, Cretton also has a vote of confidence from Kishimoto after meeting him in Tokyo. The manga creator said of Cretton:

“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. 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.”

Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the live-action Naruto film as Cretton gets to work.

via Collider