In his time, director David R. Ellis has helmed Final Destination 2, Cellular, Shark Night and, um, Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco, but now he's got the toughest challenge of his career ahead of him: adapting the furiously violent and much-loved anime Kite into a live-action Hollywood thriller.

Aiding him in his quest is Samuel L. Jackson, who previously worked with Ellis on Snakes On A Plane back in 2006. Jackson announced his involvement with the project while on promotional duties for Django Unchained, where he mentioned to Movies.com what he had on his slate after the RoboCop remake wraps.

"After [RoboCop], I'm going to do this live-action version of Kite, the Japanese anime," he said. "I'll be doing a live-action version of that in Johannesburg."

Released in two parts before being edited together as a 60-minute piece for the US market, the 1998 anime told the tale of an orphaned schoolgirl called Sawa who sets about finding the killer who murdered her parents. Helping her are the two corrupt detectives on the case of the double homicide, Akai and Kanie, who take her in as guardians, and, um, [click here for the grisly details].

Growing up to be a seriously bad-ass assassin, the resulting story is twisted and bloody and definitely one to keep an eye on, if only because chances are it'll be a tough one for the BBFC to put an 18 stamp on.

Still, with Jackson and Ellis on board, it looks like it's actually, genuinely, definitely going to happen, which should herald the start of hundreds of thousands of anime aficionados crying into their chawan. Let the fanboy fury commence!