Fast and Furious Legend Sung Kang Is Making An Initial D Film

Takumi Fujiwara will be hitting the big screen, as Fast and Furious legend Sung Kang has confirmed he’s directing a new live-action Initial D film.

Details are scarce at the moment, but Kang told South China Morning Post that he’s directing an adaption of Initial D.

Speaking with the outlet, he said: “It’s about cars and drifting and cool things like that. Almost a Rocky or Karate Kid. A fun, big-budget movie that expresses my love affair for cars.”

Whether it’s an adaptation of the manga or anime is yet to be seen, though its more concise latter form is surely the most likely. Naturally, a panda Trueno is going to appear either way - and Kang confirmed in a recent episode of his Car Stories podcast that RWB, of Porsche tuning fame, is developing the AE86 for the film.

We assume you’re familiar with Sung Kang, but if not, he’s best known for playing Han in the Fast and Furious franchise. More than that, he’s a serious car guy too - with an impressive collection himself including an RB26-powered, Greddy-built Datsun 240Z. If anyone is to make a very good Initial D film, it’s surely him.

It won’t be the first time someone’s tried to turn the series into a full-length live-action adaptation, though. There was a 2005 film released in Hong Kong and China, though an English-subbed version is available to watch on Netflix UK at the time of writing.

We haven’t seen it ourselves, but a 33 per cent Rotten Tomatoes score suggests it’s better to wait for Kang’s take.

When that will be is remains a mystery, with no time frame placed on the project. With Fast and Furious set to come to an end soon though, expect him to be dedicating some serious time to it.