According to the Hollywood reporter, Warner Bros. is in talks to secure the rights to the Bleach franchise for the purpose of making a live action movie based on the Tite Kubo manga series. Peter Segal (Get Smart, Anger Management) would direct.
Among other properties already secured by Warner Bros. for remake rights are Death Note, Akira and Ninja Scroll.
Bleach has run in Shonen Jump since 2001 and already has over 260 anime episodes to its credit.
In an interview with the website Collider.com, actor Zac Efron talked about working on the Death Note film, though mentioned it was “not on the front burner,” trying to remember the phrase on the backburner.
The actor mentioned that he had been working on the film, and had a recent meeting about it, but that it definitely won’t be his next movie.
The Death Note manga and anime have been popular on both sides of the Pacific, and fans of the films stateside have expressed concern about the likely quality of a Hollywood version, citing recent examples such as the Dragonball film.
It looks to be true. Warner Bros. decided some time ago to produce a live action Hollywood Death Note movie.
The third live action film just came out in the U.S., with a one day subbed, one day dubbed nationwide showing. Warner Bros. Japan was behind those films, so a cross over into the American market was a no brainer.
Still, with three movies already made, does it make sense to make a new film from scratch? And considering some of the latest anime adaptations (Dragonball, cough, cough), will a Hollywood-made Death Note please fans or simply make them upset? If you’ve got a comment, leave us a post.
Further delighting Death Note fans, the third live action movie in the franchise, L Change the World, will feature its first ten minutes streamed on MTV’s website. The link to the site can be found here!
As reported earlier, the latest Death Note movie will see a reasonably large limited release in the U.S., with screenings on April 29 (subtitled) and 30 (dubbed). Here’s hoping this is a trend that continues.
In move rare for Japanese movies in the United States (though perhaps becoming more common in the wake of movies like Tokyo Sonata), the third Death Note movie, L Change the World, will get a relatively large release in the United States.
The film will be shown in both dubbed and subtitled form, depending on the day viewers choose to go. The subtitled version will air the subtitled version on April 29, with the dubbed to follow on April 30.
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