While a live-action adaptation of the manga/anime Akira has been in the works for a few years, the film actually looked like it would finally come to fruition until Warner Bros. put a halt on production to further develop the script and lower the budget. Producers Jennifer Kiloran Davisson and Andrew Lazar, and director Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown) are currently working to make those changes, but it's been a few months and we haven't heard much movement on the project. Garrett Hedlund was set as the lead and Kristen Stewart, Helena Bonham Carter, and Ken Watanabe were in various stages of negotiations before the studio had second thoughts. However, today some nifty concept artwork made its way online from a previous incarnation of the live-action adaptation. The storyboards are from when Ruairi Robinson was attached to the project and they give us an idea of what his version of Akira would have looked like.Hit the jump to check out the concept artwork.These sketches are from concept artist Sylvain Despretz (Gladiator) and come courtesy of io9. Click to enlarge.