Cowboy Bebop Movie in 2011

20th Century Fox wants to adapt Cowboy Bebop, the cult sci-fi Japanese animated series, into a live-action movie. Keanu Reeves has already been confirmed in the lead role as bounty hunter Spike Spiegel. Scriptwriter Peter Craig has signed up to tackle the screenplay of this Cowboy Bebop movie. The film is scheduled for a release in the second half of 2011.

The animated series Cowboy Bebop was an an awesome mix of marvelous science-fiction, explosive action, gorgeous girls, and last but not least fascinating jazz music! No wonder that Hollywood wants to adapt this manga. But I'm worrying that Fox is maybe the best studio to produce this movie...

A lot of cash is required to produce a faithful adaptation of the manga's universe, not sure that FOX will be ready to dedicate enough of its financial resources to the film: other the priority given to projects like Wolverine 2 would be detrimental to Cowboy Bebop's funding...
And beyond money, I doubt FOX's willingness to respect the integrity of the manga: FOX - bar Wolverine - is known for desecrating cult icons....

Fortunately there is a reason for hope: Director Shinichiro Watanabe and writter Keiko Nobumoto from the original Cowboy Bebop series by Sunrise will be closely involved with the development of Fox's live-action adaptation.

You may enjoy below the opening of the original Cowboy Bebop animated series:

Plot:
"Mankind is now able to travel through the Solar system thanks to astral gates. But this technology came with a price: in the year 2021 AD, the first time it was tested a cataclysmic accident happened that caused 4 billions people to be wiped out and force the survivors to scatter though the system because Earth was under a heavy rain of meteors remnants of a blasted Moon
Fifty years later the Solar system is well under colonization with new nations rising from the ashes. But criminals have now a edge over local police services because astral gates make it easy to escape out of reach at the other end of the Solar system. So bounty hunter is a hot job again in 2071!
The crew of the spaceship Bebop are a partnership of 'cowboys' (originally Spike and Jet) who travel the solar system trying to apprehend bounties."

I appreciate Keanu Reeves: he may show a lack of emotion from time to time but I still think that he is a good actor, and I'm quite glad that he will play as Spike Spiegel in the Cowboy Bebop movie. Many fans dislike this choice though...

Let's hope that Cowboy Bebop won't be a let down!
:)