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Live-Action Death Note Films Get 2016 Sequel by Gantz Helmer Sato
posted on by Egan Loo
This year's live-action television series of the Death Note manga ended on Sunday with a special video announcement that a new Death Note movie will open next year.
Text: 10 years later … the Shinigami land again on Earth
Text: The latest movie, a forbidden sequel
Text: Directed by Shinsuke Satō (Gantz, Library Wars)
Voice & Text: The 6-Note Rule … Note's Seal … L's Successor … God of a New World … Consommé Flavor … The Second True Kira … Cyber-terrorism … Light Yagami, Returns
Text: Set to open in 2016
The tentatively titled "Death Note 2016" film will be a "forbidden sequel" to the two earlier live-action Death Note films, 2006's Death Note and Death Note: The Last Name. The film will shoot in overseas locations, and Warner Brothers will distribute.
In Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's original 2003-2006 supernatural suspense manga, a teenager named Light finds a notebook with which he can put people to death by writing their names. He begins a self-anointed crusade against the criminals of the world, and a cat-and-mouse game begins with the authorities and one idiosyncratic genius detective.
In the new film's story, the present-day, highly advanced information society is beset by global cyber-terrorism in 2016. New charismatic figures, who inherited the DNA of Light (previously played Tatsuya Fujiwara) and the detective L (Kenichi Matsuyama), emerge. The successors of the two geniuses will wage a war over six Death Notes on Earth.
A crucial plot element will be the "Six-Note Rule": Up to six Death Notes may exist simultaneously in the human world. Of course, the Shinigami (Gods of Death) themselves are limited to the number of Death Notes. Therefore, up to six Shinigami may exist in the human world. This rule existed in the original manga, but the movies, live-action series, anime, and stage play have not used this rule thus far.
The manga inspired three live-action films (including one spinoff centering on L), a 37-episode television anime series, and the recent live-action television series in Japan. The manga has 30 million in print worldwide, and the first two films earned 8 billion yen (about US$70 million). The L change the WorLd spinoff played in over 60 countries, and the live-action series premiered with a 16.9% rating and ran in 127 countries shortly after the Japanese airing.
The manga also inspired a musical by a Japanese and American team that ran at Tokyo's Nissay Theatre from April 6-29. Warner Brothers has been developing a planned live-action film in the United States.
Viz Media released the Death Note manga, the anime series, and a spinoff novel in North America. Viz Pictures released the three live-action films in American theaters.
Warner Brothers' website for the live-action Death Note films had launched a countdown timer on Friday. The countdown ended on Sunday at 10:30 p.m., the broadcast time of the live-action Death Note series' final episode.
Sources: animeanime.jp, Cinema Today
