‘My Hero Academia’ News & Update: Live-Action Adaptation Announced; Why It Might Not Suck

“My Hero Academia” fans just got a jarring news from Hollywood when it was announced that a live-action adaptation of the franchise is in the works. This is worrisome for a lot of anime and manga fans since past attempts at doing so have historically yielded horrible results. However, since “My Hero Academia” is a superhero franchise at its core, there’s a chance that it will be good.

The “My Hero Academia” live-action movie is being made by Legendary, Deadline reports. It’s the same company that is working on “Detective Pikachu” with Ryan Reynolds in the starring role. It would seem that the company is quite interested in expanding its portfolio of Japanese-inspired entertainment properties.

Unfortunately, the US does not really have a good track record of adapting anime or manga into live-action mediums, Collider notes. American filmmakers tend to misunderstand the source materials, and this has led to atrocious changes and whitewashing. So “My Hero Academia” fans actually do have a good reason for being worried.

With regards to the fears that fans of “My Hero Academia” might have of the live action film ruining their favorite series, there is hope that the movie will be good. The superhero premise of the property makes it easier to adapt into a movie since Marvel has been doing that already. What’s more, “My Hero Academia” actually has a huge following in the US.

The recent “My Hero Academia” movie released to western audiences, “My Hero Academia: Two Heroes” was quite a success both in Japan and abroad. That was an anime film, however, and the reviews helped propel it to mainstream popularity.

Time will tell if “My Hero Academia” ends up being a hit or a flop. If it is given to a director who understands the source material and can hit the right notes, the live-action movie might even be great. For now, there is no release date for the film.