Aside from Netflix showing off their upcoming ‘Bright’ movie in Hall H during San Diego Comic Con last week, they also took the time to give us a glimpse of another original film they have coming out, which will be released much sooner than ‘Bright.’ I am speaking of the adaptation of the much beloved manga ‘Deathnote,’ which is being released by Netflix on August 25th.
The panel consisted of stars Nat Wolff, Margaret Qualley, Lakeith Stanfield, director Adam Wingard and producer Masi Oka (of ‘Heroes’ fame of course). The panel was also hosted by Terry Cruz and had a lot of fans who love the manga very excited at the prospect of seeing the beloved story come to life, even if they are a little worried about the track record of Hollywood’s adaptations of mangas. However, according to the panelists, it is precisely that track record which pushed them to work very hard to make THIS the film that finally gets a manga adaptation right, and the trailer and footage they showed to the crowd sure made it seem like they are on the right path.
The clip is of the first scene between Light Turner and Ryuk, when Light puts his first name (Kenny) into the Deathnote after some convincing from Ryuk, and decides that Kenny deserves “decapitation.” And of course, right before we actually see the deed done, it cuts to black, a perfect tease which left everyone wanting more. The scene felt like they were playing up the horror aspects of the story, a slight departure from the manga, but Wingard assured the fans that it was not going to become a horror movie, but they just felt the character of Ryuk would seem more menacing if they kept him dark and mysterious and in the shadows.
Check out the clip and the trailer released at San Diego Comic Con below, and share your thoughts on whether they will actually be able to pull off a successful manga adaptation in the comments below!