A live-action feature version of Hiroya Oku’s acclaimed manga Gantz has been greenlit by Sony Pictures, according to Deadline. Overlord director Julius Avery has been tapped to direct the film.
According to the trade, Gantz “tells the storey of Kei Kurono and Masaru Kato, both of whom died in a train accident and who are forced to participate in a semi-posthumous “game” in which they and several other recently deceased people are forced to hunt down and kill aliens armed to the teeth with all sorts of futuristic weapons and gadgets.
Avery will direct the adaptation, which will be based on a script written by Marc Guggenheim (Green Lantern), with Temple Hill producing. However, the project is still considered to be in its early phases, and there is no set timetable for when manufacturing will begin.
Avery’s filmography includes the 2014 thriller Son of a Gun, as well as the World War II action horror Overlord, which was produced by J.J. Abrams. A Van Helsing film for Universal Pictures has just been announced, but his next project is the superhero thriller Samaritan, which will feature Sylvester Stallone and is set to be released in 2019.