Lionsgate has approved a live-action film based on Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto manga and brought in Sony Pictures to help finance it and lead its international release. Production is expected to start in spring 2027, TheWrap reported Tuesday. Destin Daniel Cretton, who directed Spider-Man: Brand New Day, will write, direct and produce the adaptation.
The agreement gives the film a plan for reaching theaters at home and abroad after years in development. Lionsgate will continue to oversee the project and handle domestic distribution. Sony’s involvement gives it a share in the financing and responsibility for taking the movie to international markets. A production target is one milestone; the studios have yet to announce when audiences will see the finished film.
Two studios divide the work
Sony won the international distribution rights after competition among multiple studios, according to THR. The division of responsibilities leaves Lionsgate in charge of production while putting Sony in charge of releasing the picture overseas. The companies have not disclosed how much each will contribute or what the film will cost, so the agreement does not show how the studios will share the financial risk.
The deal also reunites Cretton with Sony after his work on Spider-Man. In the announcement reported by UPI, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson pointed to Sony’s experience with manga and anime as a reason for the partnership. Sony owns the anime streaming service Crunchyroll, which carries series from the franchise. That connection helps explain the studio’s familiarity with the audience. The announcement concerns film financing and distribution and does not name a streaming home for the adaptation.
A story already familiar around the world
Kishimoto’s manga ran in Japan’s Weekly Shonen Jump from 1999 to 2014, ending after 700 chapters. The franchise’s official history puts global print sales above 250 million copies and dates the first anime adaptation to 2002. The two formats gave fans different ways to follow the same character, while the franchise went on to include games, events and merchandise.
The story follows Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who wants to lead his village as its Hokage. The studios say the anime has reached more than 145 countries and territories. Those figures show why the international rights matter to the deal. They describe the reach of the existing franchise, though, and cannot establish how many readers or viewers will buy a ticket to a live-action version.
The live-action project is one of several efforts to extend the franchise. At New York Comic Con in October, publisher VIZ announced a four-episode animated crossover with Ninkū, a card game planned for worldwide release in June 2027 and a new manga in development by Kishimoto. Those projects are separate from the Lionsgate film. They also show how the original series, which finished its magazine run more than a decade ago, continues to provide material for new releases across different formats.
The search for Team 7
In July, the franchise’s official site announced a worldwide search for the three young leads: Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. The casting announcement called them Team 7 and said casting for other characters would follow. Kishimoto welcomed the search and said he looked forward to seeing the actors who would play his characters. Tuesday’s distribution news did not name the three leads.
The emphasis on Team 7 gives audiences an early indication of which relationships the filmmakers consider central. It does not reveal which chapters the script will cover. The source material has room to develop friendships and rivalries over hundreds of installments; a feature film will have to decide which of those relationships to establish first and how much background newcomers need. Cretton said in the studios’ announcement that he was drawn to the humor and humanity behind the action. That describes his approach, while the script and casting will determine how it appears on screen.
What remains open before filming
The most concrete change on Tuesday was the commitment to make the film and the decision about who will release it. For moviegoers, that is different from a release schedule: the reporting sets a target for cameras to start rolling, with no confirmed premiere date or rollout by country. For the studios, sharing the cost does not remove the task of turning a property with an established look and audience into a film that can also work for people coming to it fresh.
Casting the young leads and beginning production are the next visible milestones. A confirmed cast would show who will carry the film’s central relationships. A release schedule, when announced, will show how Lionsgate and Sony plan to bring the movie to their respective markets. Until then, the agreement answers who will make and distribute the live-action Naruto, while leaving the shape of the adaptation and its arrival in theaters open.
