Destin Daniel Cretton’s Live-Action ‘Naruto’ Movie At Lionsgate Inches Toward Filming With Worldwide Casting Search

Later this month we’ll see filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton (“Wonder Man”) make his grand return to the feature side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as he takes the reins of the “Spider-Man” franchise from Jon Watts, in what we assume is the start of the next Tom Holland-led trilogy (we’ll see if he ultimately sticks around for two more). Well, it looks like the director is gearing up for his next movie, a live-action film based on the manga/anime “Naruto” for Lionsgate, that Cretton has been attached to helm and adapt the script since the project’s announcement back in early 2024.

It was revealed officially (via Variety) that Cretton and Lionsgate have launched a global casting search to fill the main roles of “Naruto,” such as Team 7 (Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura). The story created by Masashi Kishimoto, “follows adolescent ninja Naruto Uzumaki, who dreams of becoming his community’s protector and leader known as the village ninja.” This may be the clearest indicator, so far, that the movie based on the mega-popular property could already be in the prep/pre-production stage, unless there are going to be many months of stunt training once they fight the right actors to play those key roles.

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“Kishimoto-sensei’s stories have inspired generations of fans around the world, and it’s an honor to bring his world and characters to the big screen in live action for the very first time,” Cretton said in an official statement. “I’m thrilled to kick off this worldwide casting search for our Team 7 and to bring the incredible universe of ‘Naruto’ to life!”

This casting update could signal that a follow-up to “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” (heading to theaters on July 31) isn’t anywhere near ready to go (we have to imagine Marvel/Sony have already started early conversations about a “Spider-Man 5“), although “Wonder Man” Season 2 could come together sooner than expected, given a production team and writers’ room had already been assembled for Season 1. With the big Marvel Studios panel set for Hall H next weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, some of the studio’s plans might be revealed to attendees, including the fate of the gestating/dealyed “Shang-Chi 2,” which Cretton confirmed not too long ago was still in development stages (after some radio silence on it’s status, had some worried about it’s fate).

“Naruto” has a producing team featuring Avi Arad, Ari Arad, and Emmy Yu at Arad Productions with Jeremy Latcham. As you would imagine, Cretton is also producing alongside Jeyun Munford through his company, Hisako.

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Being ready to seek out main cast members at this point certainly feels like they’re much further along with “Naruto” than we had previously thought, possibly putting Cretton MCU film projects like “Shang-Chi 2” (and theoretical “Spider-Man 5,” if Cretton is open to coming back, we’re sure the upcoming press tour could reveal those desires) on pause for the time being.