Saturday, May 2, 2009

Death Note US Remake

So I recently read that Warner Brothers acquired Death Note, but what I didn't realize was that it was going to be a US remake live action movie ala The Ring and Grudge.

I think this is going to be extremely interesting given the success of Death Note. What's different about it is that the success of the franchise is already there, contrary to The Ring and the Grudge. This is either going to lend to the success of the license by exposing it to the main stream market, or it's going to fall flat on its face, kind of like Dragonball Evolution. (Granted I haven't seen DB Evolution yet, but I haven't heard good things.)

I guess only time will tell. My hope is that success will follow and we'll have a cool-looking movie to look forward to. Now whether or not this or Cowboy Bebop will come out first is a different story. My only advise to the people working on either of the live-action series is... Make it good, or don't bother making it at all.

~Meg

10 comments:

Tissie said...

All I can say is that L and Light better be hot.
Tissie >_<

Anonymous said...

What's with all these Hollywood remakes?! And everytime I hear about it, there are usually those scary rumors that so-and-so is playing the main character. Couple weeks back, I remember hearing that Full Metal Panic is going to be made into a remake and ZAC EFRON is going to play Sagara Sousuke. DX And then Keanu Reeves for Cowboy Bebop. So I agree with Tissie, L and Light better be hot.

Allie said...

I just hope Death Note and Dragon Ball don't go the way of Speed Racer!!!! If that happens then I agree with Meg that it's better not to make them at all. Hollywood's just running out of fresh material, but honestly, does everything have to be made into a movie? LOL

Anonymous said...

But why are they picking on anime for? I don't see why they did a remake of Dragonball given that Dragonball only appeals to a small audience. Anime doesn't have widespread appeal and catering to a niche of a niche is not the way to go. Does Deathnote have a widespread appeal? More so than Dragonball, me thinks, but how will they deal with the Shinigami?

Tissie said...

They are probably doing anime because it is a cheaper license. I mean, Dragonball is oooooooold. So they were probably excited to get any interest in it at all. And then Death Note is popular, but Death Note is finished.

When it comes to American comic franchises, they are ongoing for the most part. So you always have interest and new fans. They killed off Captain America, but it is only a matter of time before he comes back from the dead. In a few years, Death Note will be "so 2006" and something else will be the hot thing in Japan.

Think of all the "awesome" anime series no one talks about anymore - Boys Over Flowers, Eureka 7, Last Exile, Chrono Crusade, any season of Macross, Patlabor, Bubblegum Crisis, Ninja Scroll, Samurai X/ Kenshin, Fushuji Yuugi, Trigun, Utena. All of those would make awesome live action movies. But they have expired in terms of commercial shelf life.

Anonymous said...

But Caption America's different, it's an American icon much like Spiderman, Superman, Batman, James Bond, etc. There will always be movies for those charas. It's like in Japan you still have Doraemon for god knows how long, and you still have Crayon Shin-chan going strong.

But "awesome" is a subject measure. 'Sides, people still pull up those awesome but old series when they talk about good animes they've watched. And I think many of us would rather have those expired animes stay down. How many of us watched FMA:brotherhood? I watched the first episode and it was eh.

aoi_aka said...

I wish they wouldn't make this movie (or Cowboy Bebop). I see it as the whoring out of a beloved child. We already know it'll come out badly. And you know they're gonna have to change the names even if they leave the plot semi-intact.

I didn't like that the Japanese live-action changed the plot and I can just imagine how they're gonna butcher Death Note and/or Cowboy Bebop.

Anonymous said...

Maybe they should work on slice-of-life and romances rather than those action-y animes? Romances could have a wider appeal. I mean, look at all the successful adaptations of romanace: HanaKimi, Antique Bakery, Lovely Complex, Hana Yori Dango, etc. etc.

Meg said...

I would love for them to focus on slice-of-life but am afraid of cheese. The HanaKimi drama in Japan was a mess, but HYD and Nodame were awesome.

In regards to Keanu and Cowboy Bebop, I actually think Keanu has that blank expression Spike displays. Spike doesn't speak much so as long as Keanu doesn't speak, it could be ok. LOL

Anonymous said...

lololol, everyone else I've spoken to thought the japanese hanakimi was passable. But I'm referring to the taiwanese version, which was all win because I learned a corny taiwanese joke from watching it.
I don't really have an opinion on Keanu and Cowboy Bebop, but all these recent adaptations have given adaptations a bad rep, is all.

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