Deadline reports that Kamala Films has picked up the movie rights for Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima's iconic 1970s manga series Lone Wolf and Cub, with none other than Justin Lin attached to direct: Kamala Flms Acquires 'Lone Wolf And Cub' With 'Fast Five's Justin Lin Attached.I dig this. We already know that Justin can film the hell out of a car chase. I'd love to see him tackle some serious samurai sword action. And they've got David & Janet Peoples, whose credits include Blade Runner, Unforgiven and Twelve Monkeys, working on the script. Solid.
Kamala Films has acquired film rights to the Kazuo Koike-created 1970s Japanese manga Lone Wolf and Cub, attaching David & Janet Peoples to write the script. Fast Five‘s Justin Lin had already been attached to direct. Kamala's Marissa McMahon will produce with 1212 Entertainment's Elizabeth Grave and Joshua Long, with Roberto Grande exec producing.There's a pretty popular Japanese movie series based on Lone Wolf and Cub. Here in America, you might know them as Shogun Assassin, which took the first two movies and condensed them into one film for stateside release in 1980.
The original was set feudal Edo period, and chronicles the story of Ogami Itto, the Shogun's elite executioner. In an attempt to take his position, the rival Yagyu clan falsely accuses Itto of a crime and murders his wife. Disgraced, Itto is forced to wander Japan with his three-year-old son Daigoro as an assassin for hire, earning the title "Lone Wolf and Cub."Ultimately, Itto and Daigoro seek revenge on the Yagyu clan. Koike's manga, published in the United States by Dark Horse Comics, is considered a seminal work.
Aside from the movies, I've never read a single edition of the original manga, but I'll have to look into that now. Will they stick with the original series' Shogun period, or re-imagine the setting for a modern take? There are lots of directions they could take this, and to be sure, plenty of ways it could go wrong. Frankly, I'm just interested in seeing where Justin takes it.