Lionsgate Greenlights a Live-Action Naruto Movie, With Sony Co-Financing
Lionsgate has greenlit a live-action Naruto movie, and Sony Pictures will share the cost and handle distribution outside the United States and Canada, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which reported the deal on 3 November 2026. "Greenlit" means the studio has approved the film to go into production.
Lionsgate will keep overseeing development and production, and it will handle domestic distribution, meaning release in the United States and Canada. Sony will co-finance the film, which means it puts up part of the budget, and take on international release.
The story comes from Masashi Kishimoto's manga. The series has sold more than 250 million copies across more than 60 countries and territories. Production is slated to begin in spring 2027.
Destin Daniel Cretton will write the script, direct and produce. He directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and he is producing with Jeyun Munford through Hisako, the production company the two run together. Hisako launched in April 2024. Munford previously worked as an executive at Universal and Lionsgate.
Cretton also signed a three-year first-look producing deal with Sony Pictures in September. A first-look deal gives a studio the first chance to buy projects a producer develops. He is set to direct a Hawaii Five-O movie, a project reported in September 2026.
Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Emmy Yu are producing for Arad Productions, with Jeremy Latcham also producing. Their names put the project's producing team in place alongside the director.
The Sony and Lionsgate arrangement followed competitive bidding among several studios, the trade report said. That process is common for high-profile adaptations, where rival studios make offers for the rights to a film before one side is picked.
For fans watching the calendar, the spring 2027 start is the first firm marker so far. Shooting dates will show whether the schedule holds, and the next public updates will likely come from the studios themselves.
