It’s been a turbulent time for the live-action AKIRA remake over the last few months, but anyone who’s been looking forward to the project (there has to be a few of you guys out there, right?) can breath a sigh of relief – Warner Bros. have finally given it a greenlight with shooting primed to begin early 2012.

As previously reported, Jaume Collet-Serra (ORPHAN) is still locked to direct the picture after his take on the property reduced the budget considerably (it’s now set around the $90m mark, which is obviously nothing to be sniffed at).

There’s no casting confirmation as yet however, though TRON: LEGACY star Garrett Hedlund is reportedly still the front runner to star as Kaneda. It’s up for debate whether Warner Bros. are pursuing Hedlund for his acting ability, or simply his mad skillz on a motorcycle. Judging by the reaction to his performance in LEGACY, we’re leaning towards the latter.

Apologies to all of you who wanted this project to languish in Development Hell for all eternity, looks like we’ll be hearing a lot more about this over the coming year.

Thoughts? Share ’em with your fellow readers in the Comments below or on Twitter @Starburst_Mag