Otaku USA Magazine
Viz Branches Into Live-Action Content

Anime and manga company Viz Media has announced it will partner with Hollywood talent agency United Talent Agency, or UTA, to create live-action content based on its anime and manga library.

“We are excited to start this partnership to push the boundaries of storytelling, innovation and character through Viz Media’s prolific portfolio,” said UTA’s Howie Sanders, Co-Head, Book Department in the press release announcing the team-up.

This opens the door for Hollywood productions of hundreds of anime and manga titles. Viz’s most popular titles include Bleach, Naruto, Death Note and One Piece.

This isn’t Viz’s first foray into Hollywood: in 2008 it launched Viz Productions, an arm aimed at creating live-action titles. Viz Productions was involved in Edge of Tomorrow, the adaptation of Japanese novel All You Need Is Kill, and the upcoming live-action Death Note film.

Viz Media was founded in 1986. One of its first hit titles was the comedy Ranma 1/2.

A complete list of Viz’s anime and manga properties can be found here. What titles do you think would make good Hollywood films?

Source: Viz, ANN

Matt Schley

Matt Schley (rhymes with "guy") lives in Tokyo, and has been OUSA's "man in Japan" since 2012. He's also written about anime and Japanese film for the Japan Times, Screen Daily and more.

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