Live action

Development of a live-action film version of Neon Genesis Evangelion was announced in May 2003 by the Houston-based anime distributor ADV Films, who holds worldwide rights to the series outside of Asia and Australia, and Universal Studios would be the American distributor. The film will be made by ADV, Gainax, and Weta Workshop Ltd.. Its release is currently projected to occur at any time ranging from as early as 2009 to as late as 2015.

In December 2005, Fortune Magazine reported in an article about ADV Films that it had raised "about half of the $100 million to $120 million" needed to produce the film. It's not completely clear if this money was raised by ADV alone or if part of that amount was contributed by Gainax.

As of November 2008, the project is considered to be in "development hell", as a director has yet to become available or announced officially. In a panel discussion at Tekkoshocon on April 2, 2006 featuring Matt Greenfield and wife Tiffany Grant, many aspects of the project were revealed. Greenfield recalled that Weta approached ADV about a live-action Evangelion film after completing work on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, but the work was delayed by King Kong and The Chronicles of Narnia. It was revealed that three described "A-list" directors and several celebrities had approached the project, rather than the other way around, and the spec script was written by a writer of several other well-known science fiction films (though this is subject to be rewritten and tailored to the director's vision). Greenfield also reiterated his belief that they did not want to make the film for profit, because they wanted to do it and have it done right (as with Lord of the Rings), and promised effort toward a trilogy of Evangelion films (as opposed to trying to condense the story into one film and lose vast amounts of material), similar again to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Several alternative screenplays are being written, and only time will tell which scripts will be used in the final product.

At Anime Expo 2008, ADV founders Matt Greenfield and John Ledford, in response to a question over the progress of the live-action film, revealed they had hired the producer for Appleseed Ex Machina, Joseph Chu, and pitched the idea to other producers such as Jerry Bruckheimer and Steven Spielberg. They went on to say that interest in the project had been boosted by the success of the 2007 film Transformers. In an Evangelion panel at Ohayocon in Columbus, Ohio on January 30, ADV director Matt Greenfield announced that several U.S. studios are competing for final rights to the project, meaning that actual production should begin soon. Matt Greenfield estimates that an official announcement, including naming the studio, the director, and perhaps casting information, would be made within the next 9 months. During the opening ceremony of the Anime Central Convention 2009, when asked about the movie, Matt Greenfield said that it would be made "soon, and I'm not kidding", clarifying that he is unable to give further details as "the closer he gets to sealing the deal the less he can say anything about it".