Anime goes 3-D in Hollywood

Cultural diffusion is the process in which cultures exchange ideas with each other. Since agriculture spread from the fertile crescent, great ideas have been exchanged back and forth. America and Japan have been influencing each others entertainment industry since their first contact and it has continued unabated until today. A prime example of this ping pong game of cultural diffusion starts with cyberpunk. In 1982 Ridley Scott released the groundbreaking movie Blade Runner and in 1984 William Gibson released his most famous novel Neuromancer. These pioneering masterpieces of the cyberpunk genre inspired Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell in turn inspiring the Wachowski brothers 1999 film The Matrix.

In April of 2008 Steven Spielberg announced that he would be creating a 3-D live action version of Ghost in the Shell as well. So the ball has landed back on the Americans side of the table as several big budget movies based on anime are either coming to theaters or have entered production. The Wachowski Brothers revived one of their favorite anime series and was adapted for US audiences when they directed the Speed Racer movie or in Japan called Mach GoGoGo.
They have also recently optioned the rights to make a movie based on Yoshiaki Kawajiri's Ninja Scroll. 20th Century Fox and James Wong are releasing a movie based on Akira Toriyama's Dragonball Z in 2009.
Warner Brothers and Leonardo DiCaprio have recently announced plans to produce a live action version of Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira.
James Cameron has owned the right to make a movie based on Battle Angel Alita and has been waiting for CG technology to catch up with his vision of an adaptation. There are probably several other anime adaptations that have not been announced or that are being negotiated as you read this article.

[via reverse thieves]