It was announced last week that Producers Roy Lee and Taka Ichise will work together on a live-action adaptation of IDW Publishing’s graphic novel The Suicide Forest. Hideo Nakata is tapped to direct. Nakata is most known for directing Ringu, which inspired the American adaptations: The Ring and The Ring Two.
Despite having the producers and director ready, the filmmakers are still looking for a screenwriter.
The Suicide Forest is the first installment of a four-part graphic novel series written by El Torres and illustrated by Gabriel Hernandez.
The story is a thriller about Aokigahara, a forest outside Tokyo which is the most famous suicide spot in the world. There is a legend that the spirits of past suicides roam among the trees. An American living in Tokyo enlists the help of a local forest ranger to help free him from an evil spirit that haunts him in the forest.
IDW’s Ted Adams and John Middleton will executive produce.
A summary for The Suicide Forest follows:
“Just outside of Tokyo lies Aokigahara, a vast forest and one of the most beautiful wilderness areas in Japan… which is also the most famous suicide spot in the entire world. Legend has it that the spirits of those many suicides are still roaming—haunting deep in those ancient woods. This series from the creators of the acclaimed The Veil examines the lives of Alan, an average worker from Tokyo and his rather unhealthy relationship with Masami, and Ryoko, a forest ranger who recovers the suicide victim’s bodies from the woods. We discover that behind Ryoko’s unconcerned surface lies a secret, and these three lives will be forever changed by the darkness waiting for them in the Suicide Forest.”
There is no word if they plan to make this into a movie franchise based in the issues of the graphic novel or keep it as a standalone film.However, based on how popular franchise films are these days, taking note from The Hunger Games, Twilight and the Marvel superhero films, it is reasonable to believe that if the film does well at the box office it could at least get a sequel.