Justin Lin to Direct Kozure Okami

Deadline reports that Kamala Film, in association with 1212 Entertainment, has secured the rights to produce an American film adaptation of Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima’s 1970-1976 samurai manga Kozure Okami (Lone Wolf & Cub). Justin Lin (Fast Five, Better Luck Tomorrow) will direct from a script by David and Janet Peoples (Twelve Monkeys). As early as 2003 director Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Black Swan) tried to acquire the American production rights but in 2009 said, “The rights from Japan were never cleared. They tried for a while. I don’t think it’s getting out of there anytime soon.” The violent samurai action manga has had numerous live-action TV and movie adaptations in Japan. Dark Horse Comics has published the complete 28 volume manga series in English. Dark Horse also published the American “Lone Wolf 2100” futuristic re-imagining comic series by writer Mike Kennedy and artist Francisco Ruiz Velasco in 2002.