Ask John: Will the Live Action Evangelion Ever Happen?

Question:
I had a question about Neon Genesis Evangelion. I do not remember what NewType magazine it was in, but I remember reading that there was going to be a live action version coming out soon. Well, that mag, if I remember correctly, was almost 1-2 years old. Did they cancel their plans on making it, or is it still planned on coming out?

Answer:
The live action Evangelion movie is reportedly a co-production between AD Vision and Weta Workshop, with Gainax having input and approval privileges. AD Vision has consistently maintained that slow progress on the film is continuing, but no shooting script, director, actors, filming start date, or tentative release date has ever been announced. Weta Workshop’s official homepage states that the film is “on hold.”

Recently Weta announced that its development of a live action Halo motion picture had been shelved indefinitely due to lack of support from any major film distributors. Considering that Halo is a far more widely recognized and successful franchise worldwide than Evangelion is, the fact that a Halo movie produced by Weta can’t get funding doesn’t bode well for the probability of a Weta produced Evangelion movie ever actually being made.

My personal suspicion has always been that the live action Evangelion movie has been more wishful thinking and carefully orchestrated publicity than a concrete business plan. I don’t doubt that a skilled screenwriter could compose a live action Evangelion movie script, although how much resemblance a live action Evangelion would bear to its anime source may be uncertain. The biggest obstacle facing the production of a live action Evangelion movie is the fact that a live action Evangelion movie will be an expensive production with a very limited market potential. Evangelion is virtually unknown outside of America’s hardcore anime fan community, and the fact that America’s fan community can’t even make imported anime films a significant box office success in America suggests that a live action American Evangelion movie would probably have an immensely difficult time even recovering its production costs. As a publicity stunt, the Evangelion movie is tremendously successful, considering that obviously it still brings attention to AD Vision and the Evangelion franchise despite being originally announced over three years ago and having never significantly advanced. As an actual film production, I suspect that the project is too big of a financial risk to be viable.

I may be surprised and proven wrong when the film does advance into production some time in the future. But at the present time, the status of the movie depends on who you ask. AD Vision insists that the movie project is still slowly developing. Weta states that the project is not currently in development. Although not an inscrutably authoritative source, the Internet Movie Database reports that the movie has not been formally confirmed for continued production.