The Hollywood and Japanese producers are joining forces on a live action, English-language version of the hit anime TV series.

Imagine Entertainment is partnering with Tokyo- and Hollywood-based All Nippon Entertainment Works (ANEW) and Japan’s Bandai Namco Pictures to develop and produce Tiger & Bunny, an English-language live action feature version of the Japanese anime series and movies.

The film is being produced by Imagine’s Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, ANEW’s Sandy Climan and Annmarie Bailey, and, for Bandai Namco, Masayuki Ozaki. Ozaki produced the original Japanese Tiger & Bunny brand for anime studio Sunrise, from which Bandai Namco was spun off earlier this year.

With characters designed by manga artist Masakazu Katsura, Tiger & Bunny first appearedin Japan in 2011 as a late night TV series. Two animated features films followed in 2014. The stories take place in a near-future city where professional superheroes fight crime and old school veteran Tiger is forced to collaborate with cocky rookie Bunny.

In a statement, Bailey, ANEW’s senior vice president of development and production, said: “I was immediately drawn to Tiger & Bunny when I first encountered the series in Japan – from the compelling storylines to the dynamic characters, the concept is a fresh new take on the superhero genre.”

Howard said: “We could not be more excited about producing Tiger & Bunny with Bandai Namco Pictures and ANEW. When ANEW brought us the project, we fell in love with the concept immediately. It was fresh, a huge success in Japan, and we had never seen a great buddy story bring together so many uniquely compelling elements.”

Ozaki added: “When we met Ron and the Imagine team we could see the creative passion in their eyes and we are confident that we have found the best partners in ANEW and Imagine to reintroduce the Tiger & Bunnyfranchise to audiences young and old the world over.”

ANEW’s development slate of English-language adaptations of Japanese propertiesincludesa version of 6000 in association with producer Mike Medavoy; Soul ReViver with Fields Corp, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz; a live action remake of Toei Animation’s Gaiking with producer Gale Ann Hurd; and three projects, Shield of Straw, Birthright and Ghost Train, with Chris and Paul Weitz.

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