Masashi Kishimoto doesn’t throw around words like miracle lightly. But that’s exactly what he’s calling the live-action Naruto movie right now, and after a decade of false starts, fans finally understand why.
The road to a live-action Naruto has been long and rocky. Lionsgate first secured the rights back around 2015, and for years the project sat in limbo while other anime adaptations came and went, some brilliant, most forgettable. Then in February 2024, the studio locked in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton to write and direct, and the project finally started to feel real.
Now, with casting officially underway for Team 7, Kishimoto is opening up about just how surreal this moment feels to him.
Kishimoto Calls the Naruto Movie a Series of Miracles
“Right now, miracles are happening to me, one after another,” Kishimoto said in a press release. “My work, Naruto, is truly, truly becoming a Hollywood movie! And an even greater miracle is that the film will be directed by the one and only Destin Daniel Cretton. I still cannot believe it!
“If so many miracles have already come together, then let us hope for even more. I am eagerly looking forward to the miraculous encounters that will bring us extraordinary and passionate actors! I cannot wait to meet my characters in the film!”
That’s about as emotional as Kishimoto gets in an official statement, and it tracks. This isn’t just any manga getting the Hollywood treatment. Naruto ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1999 to 2014 and has sold over 250 million copies across more than 60 countries, making it one of the most valuable pieces of IP Lionsgate could ever hope to adapt.
Cretton himself announced the casting news on social media, confirming the search is on for the actors who’ll play Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, the core of Team 7. He called it an honor to bring Kishimoto’s world to live-action for the first time, and given his track record with practical action in Shang-Chi, fans have reason to be cautiously hopeful.
Cretton is currently juggling this alongside directing duties on Spider-Man: Brand New Day, so a firm release date hasn’t been set. But with casting now moving forward, industry watchers are already pointing toward a possible 2027 production window for Naruto to start filming.