'Naruto' latest news: Hollywood adaptation of Masashi Kishimoto's famous manga now in pre-production

Hollywood studio Lionsgate is adapting the famous Japanese manga series "Naruto" into a live-action movie.

On Dec. 17, Shonen Jump, a magazine dedicated to the popular manga and its adaptation, announced on their Twitter account that Lionsgate had managed to successfully secure the rights to the "Naruto" franchise to make a Hollywood film. "The Magicians" director Michael Gracey will be making his directorial feature-length film debut as the live-action adaptation's director.

Reports about the possibility of a "Naruto" Hollywood movie adaptation date as far back as July 2015. However, according to Polygon, it wasn't fully confirmed until last Saturday at an anime convention in Japan during which "Naruto" manga series creator Masashi Kishimoto confirmed that the project is finally moving forward. As reported by Gamespot, the "Naruto" live-action film is currently in pre-production, and Kishimoto has been tapped to be personally involved in the project. However, at the moment, no targeted release date has been announced yet.

Should the "Naruto" movie be completed without issue, the film will be joining the ranks of other well-known manga series, such as "Death Note" and "Ghost in the Shell," that will be given their own Hollywood live-action adaptations. A series adaptation of "Death Note," which was originally meant to be produced by Warner Bros., will now be handled by Netflix. "Ghost in the Shell," on the other hand, is set to hit theaters in March, with Scarlett Johansson in the lead role.

"Naruto" is a story about Uzumaki Naruto, a young boy that is treated like an outcast by the people of his village, out of fear, anxiety, and anger, because he is the vessel of the monstrous nine-tailed demon fox that almost annihilated the entire village years ago.

For now, the main "Naruto" manga series has been completed, and a new spinoff focusing on Naruto's son, Boruto, is currently being published. An anime adaptation of "Boruto" is also currently in the works.