Published Jul 11, 2026, 12:06 PM EDT
Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He’s also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock.
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In recent years, the most cultural relevance that Naruto has had was when Weapons came out. Zach Cregger’s horror blockbuster opened with a class full of kids leaving their houses in the middle of the night, all running in the same direction with their arms out behind their back. That creepy running style was quickly compared to Naruto, and the iconic manga-turned-anime enjoyed another day in the sun.
The Naruto franchise has effectively been dead for almost a decade now. The original show was followed up with a sequel series called Boruto, focusing on the next generation. That was supposed to usher in a new era for Naruto to keep the franchise going, but Boruto never made its way into the mainstream like the flagship series did. Now that Lionsgate has confirmed it’s working on a live-action reboot movie based on Naruto, that new era might finally be here.
The title character in Naruto is a ninja and orphan who has the power of a Nine-Tailed Fox named Kurama sealed within him. Throughout the series, Naruto chases his dreams of leading his village. It’s a really cinematic story, set in a really cinematic world, so it’s tailor-made for the big-screen treatment.
Lionsgate has tapped Destin Daniel Cretton — who’s about to release the biggest movie of the summer with Spider-Man: Brand New Day — to direct the live-action Naruto film, and he couldn’t be a better choice. Cretton directed plenty of heightened, fantastical martial arts sequences in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. In fact, Shang-Chi is just about the closest thing we’ve gotten to a live-action Naruto film up until now.
A global casting search is underway to find the actors who will bring Naruto and the other members of Team 7 to life on the screen. As we’ve seen in the past, it could go horribly wrong, but there is one very promising sign.
This Naruto movie won’t be the first time a classic anime has been adapted into live-action by Hollywood, and they don’t have a very good track record. From Dragonball Evolution to Scarlett Johansson’s Ghost in the Shell, Hollywood’s anime adaptations tend to be brazenly unfaithful to the source material, with a mostly (or entirely) whitewashed cast. But there are a couple of upsides that suggest Naruto’s live-action reboot could actually be pretty good, and maybe even go down as the exception to this rule.
They’ve got the perfect director with Cretton. He proved his ability to direct thrilling martial arts fight sequences in Shang-Chi, but he comes from the world of arthouse indie movies, so he’s always focused on story and character. Wonder Man demonstrated his gift for thinking outside the box and subverting the audience’s expectations, and Short Term 12 is genuinely one of the greatest movies I’ve ever seen. They couldn’t have a better director lined up to bring Naruto to life.
And on top of that, the creator of the original manga, Masashi Kishimoto, is actually excited about the reboot. It’s extremely rare that we see the original creator excited about the Hollywood adaptation of their work. Usually, Hollywood torpedoes their vision and they wage war against the adaptation. Author Tomi Adeyemi recently slammed the upcoming movie adaptation of her book Children of Blood and Bone, and it’s not even out yet.
But Kishimoto has described Lionsgate’s Naruto movie as a “miracle.” He said that the existence of the movie at all is a miracle, and the fact that they’ve got Cretton lined up to direct it is another miracle. Kishimoto is excited about the casting search, and excited to see how the movie comes together, and frankly, after seeing his enthusiasm for the project, so am I.
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Naruto, Naruto: Shippuden, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Video Game(s)
Naruto: Clash Of Ninja Revolution 3, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja (2003), Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, Naruto: Rise Of A Ninja, Naruto: The Broken Bond, Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker, Naruto Shippuden Dragon Blade Chronicles, Naruto: Path Of The Ninja, Naruto x Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections
Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow
First TV Show