Beyblade Live-Action Film In The Works At Paramount!

With the growing interest in Japanese anime worldwide, we have all seen a steady increase in projects based on its content recently. Netflix's live-action Death Note movie from a few years ago was all the hype at some point while a One Piece live-action series is in the works and has begun filming. Now, it seems that Hollywood is all ready to welcome the Beyblade franchise into the fraternity!

According to Deadline, Paramount is developing a live-action film adaptation of Beyblade, the top spinning toy originally developed by Takara. The outlet also reports that Neil Widener and Gavin James will write the film while Jerry Bruckheimer will produce. For those unfamiliar, Bruckheimer has previously been attached to major blockbusters, including Pirates of the Caribbean and National Treasure.

The recent report claims that the movie is still in its "early production" phase. However, in 2015, Deadline had reported on Paramount purchasing the rights to make a live-action Beyblade movie produced by Mary Parent (Pacific Rim, Detective Pikachu, and Dune). So, it seems like the idea of a live-action Beyblade movie has been floating around for a while.

What were the original Beyblade manga and anime series about?

For fans who are unfamiliar with the history, Beyblade was a game originally launched by Takara Tomy in 1999. Beyblades are toys you throw together into an arena using a special launcher. The objective is to knock your opponent's Beyblade out of the ring or stop it from spinning. The game was first adapted into a manga series by Takao Aoki. In 2016, Takao Aoki released a sequel manga called "Beyblade Rising."

The first 51-episode Beyblade television anime series, directed by Toshifumi Kawase, premiered in Japan in January 2001. The English version debuted in July 2002. My Anime List describes the series as:

"Takao Kinomiya dreams of becoming the best beyblader in the world. Along with his friends Kai, Max, Rei, and Kyoujou, they make the team known as the Bladebreakers. They strive to be the best but don't do it alone... because within each of their Beyblades resides a Sacred Spirit that gives them even more power to reach their goals."

Check out a trailer for the series below:

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