Live-Action Phoenix Wright Gets International Release
For anybody who follows the world of film one of the big festival names is Rotterdam and that is the place where the world premiere of Takashi Miike’s version of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney took place and where he expressed his hope that it will see international distribution.
Synopsis
In the near future, serious crime is on the rise and in response the justice system has changed the rules of a trial:
Cases last a maximum of three days and sentences are usually imposed immediately.
This has led to exciting face-offs where the public prosecutor and the lawyer have to score points with the judge rapidly.
Takashi Miike, confirmed during a Q&A session that there are plans to release the Ace Attorney movie worldwide, with “each region receiving subs and dubs using the character names from the Phoenix Wright games for that region.” So far no concrete deals have been announced but surely it is only a matter of time.
Takashi Miike announced that he was working on an adaptation of long-running Nintendo DS franchise during a press conference in Cannes last year where he stated that his next film “…is a very light comedy that I am filming now, a court drama, based on a video game, the Nintendo game DS”. Now that the film has premiered he elaborated on his reasons for taking on the director’s job,
“Japanese films and novels often embody the message that as long as you work hard, you will develop and improve. What I loved about this game is the fact that it had none of that. The lead doesn’t develop, doesn’t get better over time. He is driven by the desire to help others, but doesn’t know much about the legal system.”
Early reviews are positive and it is in the top 20 festival films as selected by the public.
Phoenix Wright was portrayed by Hiroki Narimiya one of the stars in the ninja adventure Azumi and Sakuran. Phoenix Wright’s assistant, Maya Fey, was portrayed by Mirei Kiritani who has recently worked on the live-action TV version of Arakawa Under the Bridge and Miles Edgeworth was portrayed by Takumi Saito who starred in Thirteen Assassins.
