TRON: Legacy star Garrett Hedlund was set to play the Americanized Kaneda, with Ken Watanabe and Helena Bonham Carter in negotiations for supporting roles and Kristen Stewart offered the female lead.  So yeah, it looked like Akira was actually going to happen, with a Vancouver-based production tentatively scheduled to being in February or March.

Apparently, though, the preproduction offices in Vancouver have been closed down, with an anonymous inside source informing The Hollywood Reporter, "Everybody is being sent home."

Over the next two weeks, Collet-Serra and producers Jennifer Kiloran Davisson and Andrew Lazar will hack away at the screenplay in order to reduce the budget to a level that Warner Bros is actually comfortable investing.  As of now, it's unknown whether Harry Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves, the last writer to take on the Akira script, will partake in the slashing.  Either way, it's going to take some substantial adjusting, as the current budget of $90 million needs to be taken down several pegs to the range of $60 million to $70 million.  If the creative team can't reasonably trim the budget by around 30%, then the studio might just shelve the project.

Collet-Serra arrived at the $90 million figure after being brought in to replace Albert Hughes, whose version of Akira was roughly twice as expensive.  The cost of Hughes's take on the material led Warner Bros. on a wild goose chase to find an internationally recognizable leading man who could guarantee a high profile for the film.  When that chase ended up bearing no fruit whatsoever, Hughes amicably left the project.  He was actually the second director to take a crack at the property, after initial director Ruairi Robinson's attempt turned into a shamblefest.

This is yet another example of an increasing wariness to dabble in crazy-costly blockbusters.  Other casualties of this trend include At the Mountains of Madness, Ouija, and The Dark Tower at Universal.  The Lone Ranger managed to reduce its huge budgetary figure and will actually get made, after some very public haggling between Disney, Gore Verbinksi, and Jerry Bruckheimer.  Will Akira end up pulling a Lone Ranger, or can anime fans rest safely knowing this movie just isn't meant to be?