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June 14, 2006

TWO REMAKES

It's old news at this point, but I think we've all felt that stomach cramp over the news of the BATTLE ROYALE remake. The producing team is Neal Moritz of THE FAST AND FURIOUS franchise and Roy Lee of THE RING. The thing that bugs me is that the original won't be seen (thanks to some fast-talking acquisitions folks back in 2001) but we'll get a remake claiming to be the real thing. This will be the second Asian remake for Neal Moritz after his INITIAL D-lite copy FAST AND FURIOUS 3: TOKYO DRIFT.

And then there's the news that the Pang Brothers' BANGKOK DANGEROUS, the movie that put them on the international map, will be remade by the Pang Brothers with ol' Ghost Rider himself in the lead role, Nic Cage.

At least Neal Moritz and Roy Lee have better source material.

(Thanks to Al and a sharp-eyed reader for these tips)

June 14, 2006 at 09:04 AM in News | Permalink

Comments

I'm unclear about your comment concerning the unavailability of the original Battle Royale as I saw it a couple of years ago on DVD.

Posted by: Peter Nellhaus | Jun 15, 2006 10:08:32 AM

I think he means that it's not getting a theatrical release here prior to the remake's release.

Posted by: simon abrams | Jun 15, 2006 3:20:58 PM

Also, any DVD you saw was either a bootleg or a parallel import. Nothing wrong with that, but there is no legit US distributor of BATTLE ROYALE.

Posted by: Grady Hendrix | Jun 15, 2006 6:38:53 PM

Grady

Re your quote :

"The thing that bugs me is that the original won't be seen (thanks to some fast-talking acquisitions folks back in 2001) but we'll get a remake claiming to be the real thing"

The rights were bought with the express intent of sitting on them?!? What kind of deal was made and more to the point who on earth did the that???

Posted by: David Harris | Jun 16, 2006 7:32:09 AM

Here is the reason why no US distributor acquire BATTLE ROYALE.

http://www.battleroyalefilm.net/movie/banned.html

Posted by: no name | Jun 16, 2006 9:46:08 AM

There was also a story going around that one studio wanted to make a deal with BATTLE ROYALE and that in an attempt to get the price down they started talking about copycat crimes and legal responsibility and basically tried to scare the Toei folks with tales of getting sued in sue-happy America if the movie showed over here and inspired a crime. Their hope, supposedly, was that Toei would see that the movie was problematic and lower the price. Instead, the result was that Toei decided the NA market a) was too cheap, and b) too risky.

I heard this story from two different sources - neither of which was actually there but both of whom were in a position where they may have known this. It's a rumor, but it's an interesting one and I tend to believe some version of it may have happened.

Posted by: Grady Hendrix | Jun 17, 2006 6:51:32 AM

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