Rights recently signed up by producer Erwin Stoff (Matrix, A Scanner Darkly)

The IFMagazine.com entertainment website reports that film producer Erwin Stoff (The Matrix, A Scanner Darkly) is developing a live-action adaptation of Sunrise's Cowboy Bebop multi-genre action anime series for Fox. Stoff told the website that the project is "in the really early stages" since the parties "just signed it the other day." Shinichiro Watanabe's original anime follows the motley crew of the spaceship Bebop as it travels throughout the solar system in search of the next job. Stoff promised "a real degree of faithfulness," and added, “When I met with them in Japan, one of the first things that I brought up was the experience that we had on A Scanner Darkly , and how hard we worked to remain faithful to Philip K. Dick, and that was our big concern here.”

The anime distributor Bandai Entertainment and Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block released the original 1998 television series in the United States, and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the subsequent 2001 animated movie. The anime was also adapted into two separate manga series, and Tokyopop released both manga series in North America. A Bandai Entertainment representative was unable to publicly comment on this report.

Thank you to Meghan Grant and Starks for the news tips.