A live-action film adaptation of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's Death Note manga made its red carpet premiere in New York City on Thursday. The film, which is produced for distribution by streaming media platform Netflix, will be released worldwide on August 25.

Japanese American actor Masi Oka (Heroes), who co-produced the film, tweeted a photograph of a Times Square billboard advertisement for Death Note (pictured) on the day of the premiere. The other producers credited along with Oka are veteran producers of American remakes of Asian productions, including Roy Lee (The Ring executive producer), Dan Lin (The Departed development executive), and Jason Hoffs (Edge of Tomorrow producer).

American film production company Warner Bros., whose Japanese unit had distributed earlier live-action film adaptations of Death Note, acquired the rights for a Hollywood production in 2009. Last year, Netflix purchased those rights for an estimated US$40–50 million. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, director Adam Wingard revealed that Warner Bros. had planned to abandon the production before Netflix expressed interest in the project.

Netflix's synopsis for the film indicates that the story focuses on protagonist Light Turner, who finds a supernatural notebook and uses it to mete out death, attracting the attention of a detective, a demon, and a girl in his class. Actor Nat Wolff plays the role of Light Turner, with Keith Stanfield starring as the detective L and Willem Dafoe as the god of death Ryuk.

At an advance screening at San Diego Comic-Con last month, Oka indicated that both Ohba and Obata have seen the completed film. According to The Inquisitr, a statement released by Ohba praised the film as an "A-level thriller masterpiece" with its characters staying "faithful to satisfying their desires." Obata pointed out that although the film "both followed and diverged" from the original story, it exceeded his expectations with a "high level of quality, sophistication, and attention to every detail."

Death Note will be released in three languages—English, Japanese, and Russian. Netflix lists the film with a running time of 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Trailer


Official site: https://www.netflix.com/title/80122759

Source: Entertainment Weekly, The Inquisitr