Live-Action Naruto Director Announces Worldwide Casting Search
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Live-Action Naruto Director Announces Worldwide Casting Search
Director Destin Daniel Cretton has announced that they are kicking off a worldwide casting search for the live-action Naruto movie.
Published Fri, 10 Jul 2026 16:20:08 -0500
by Kaitlyn Booth
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Article Summary
- Destin Daniel Cretton and Lionsgate have launched a worldwide casting search for the live-action Naruto movie.
- Cretton said he is excited to find Team 7 and bring Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto universe to the big screen.
- Kishimoto praised the Naruto film's progress and said he is eager to see passionate actors embody his characters.
- The live-action Naruto movie has been in development since 2015, with questions remaining about which story arc it will adapt.
We're in a new era of anime live-action adaptations, and now that some have actually turned out decent, no one should be surprised that more are on the way. Some of them are going the television route while others are still vying for the big screen. Naruto was a staple of the manga and anime genre in the early 2000s and was one of the gateway series for many Western fans entering the fandom for the first time. A live-action movie isn't surprising at all, but there hasn't been much movement on it since it was announced because director Destin Daniel Cretton has been a wee bit busy making a Spider-Man movie. Now that Spider-Man is weeks away, Cretton and Lionsgate took to social media and issued a press release to formally announce that a worldwide casting search for the Naruto film is kicking off.
"Kishimoto-sensei's stories have inspired generations of fans around the globe, and it's an honor to bring his world and characters to the big screen in live action for the very first time. I'm thrilled to kick off this worldwide casting search for our Team 7 and to bring the incredible universe of NARUTO to life."
Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, added in the press release, "Right now, miracles are happening to me, one after another. 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!"
A live-action version of Naruto has been kicking around Hollywood since at least 2015, but given how long the manga ran (1999 to 2014), you have to wonder which part of the story they plan to adapt. If you spent any time in the anime and manga fandom in the early 2000s, you probably read or watched some Naruto. Like most long-running manga, they sometimes go on for so long that fans will drop off before the project ends. That massive volume count can also be very daunting to new fans, though these are problems comic books face. Much like One Piece, there are dedicated fans who grew up on Naruto, and Lionsgate will have to stick this landing, or we will have another Ghost in the Shell situation on our hands.
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