It seems the next big Hollywood trend (now that they are running out of comic book heroes to adapt for the big screen) is to snap up rights to every cartoon that came out of Japan since 1960. This is no doubt due to the phenomenal success of ‘Transformers’ and the not-so-phenomenal success of ‘Speed Racer’. Already in the works are adaptations of ‘Astro Boy’, ‘Gatchaman’ and ‘Dragonball’, today we can add ‘Ninja Scroll’ to that list.

From ComingSoon.net:

Alex Tse (Watchmen) will write Ninja Scroll, Warners Bros. Pictures’ adaptation of the classic Japanese anime feature. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way is producing along with Madhouse Pictures and Jungo Maruta.

“Ninja” is set in feudal Japan and follows a ninja who must fight eight demonic warriors in order to save Japan. The hard-R movie, released in 1993 in Japan, featured a villain with stone skin, a hunchback with a wasp nest as his hump and a woman whose snake tattoos come to life.

Having personally never seen Ninja Scroll I don’t know if it would benefit or not from a Hollywood adaptation. What I do know is that if this current trend continues, as it did for comic book movies we might eventually get adaptations of the cartoons I actually DO like, which can only be a good thing if they are treated with the same respect that comic book movies are at the moment.

Here’s the original Japanese trailer: