Battle Royal. . . . . Remake??

[Jo Rose]

shocking, but apparently true

even more shocking is it's being directed y the guy who did "the fast and the furious" and i know the new one is a hot topic atm =p

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news06/060608b.php

jo is not impressed :okashii:

[MeAndroo]

I heard about this too. Original stories are damn near impossible to come by, so Hollywood is hoping to cash in on international movies that they hope haven't reached the majority of their domestic population. Typical. Yet another reason why I don't go to the movies.

[RockLee]

Haven't you noticed that recently America only copies Japanese (and Chinese) movies? Guess there is no more inspiration, Asian films are doing so good recently, I think America is trying to pick a grain whenever they can :mad: What happened to all the good movies Hollywood used to bring us :(

[Nana007]

WHY!!! Hollywood is going to ruin it and water it down.

And while talking about remakes I heard that they might remake Audition.

[Tsuyoiko]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! This is a travesty!

:angryfire: :angryfire: :angryfire:

[Yokan]

Okay seriously they have to get back to their own original storylines. >__> I suppose it'll be fun to see a Remake...but it doesn't have that as much respect as the original, if you know what I mean. Appreciation of the work.

It's only a matter of time before America finds the likes of Gokusen, GTO and Hana Yori Dango to remake as well..especially Hana Yori Dango, it just be perfect for Hollywood to do their usual rubbish stuff.

[Da Monstar]

as one of my friends said a couple of months ago.. "The only sad part about Battle Royale, is that someday a guy from Miramax is going to see it".

I guess it wasn't Miramax, but the statement became a nightmare anyway

[Mycernius]

I've heard rumours about this for about a year or so now. All I can say is that it will be cr@p. The idea of under 18s killing each other for an American studio is way to risky. They'll be college kids and it will probably make BR II look like an oscar winner.:okashii: :okashii: :okashii: :okashii: :okashii: :okashii: :okashii: :okashii: :okashii: (you might gather I'm not pleased)

[Rich303]

shocking, but apparently true
even more shocking is it's being directed y the guy who did "the fast and the furious"


I have great respect for many aspects of American culture but I have to say this;

Burn Hollywood, Burn !!!

[ricecake]

I've seen both Royale Battle I and II on DVD in the past years.I would like to see Hollywood version of it with touch-up script and special effects.

[yukio_michael]

I'd just remind people that the second Battle Royale, directed by the son of the original director was a complete mess, sloppy, lacking plot, and containing the same types of copy-cat thematic elements so derided in this thread.

Tacked on to the closure of the film was a preachy & fairly insulting middle eastern, pro-insurgent? / pro-peace? ending. Hell, I don't know what they were trying to say...

Sequels are almost always bad, no matter where they come from, and Battle Royale is no Roshomon, it's not hallowed ground... It's not your own Battle Royale anymore, but, who cares if it's a bad movie? Don't go see it--- America is not ruining your Asia.

[ricecake]

There is a scene in Royale Battle II,this Japanese actor made a " angried sour face " to America's belittled of Japan as a 12 year old,I thought that was hilarious.

[Rich303]

it's not hallowed ground... It's not your own Battle Royale anymore, but, who cares if it's a bad movie? Don't go see it--- America is not ruining your Asia.


I just think there is a lack of imagination in Hollywood at the moment. E.Gs of remakes below;

'A Texas Chainsaw Massacre'

'The Fog'

'The Ring'

'The Grudge'

'Alfie'

'The Omen'

'Vanilla Sky'

'The Italian Job'

'Freaky Friday'

'Shall We Dance'

'King Kong'

'Superman'

'Godzilla'

etc, etc, etc


I wouldn't mind if they were worthy films with something to say, but mostly they are not.
On the positive side; I'm looking forward to 'A Scanner Darkly' from America, although it is not a mainstream Hollywood film. It is directed by Richard Linklater ('School of Rock') and based on Philip.K.Dick's novel of the same name.
Maybe the most 'un-Hollywood' adaptation of a Dick story since 'Bladerunner'.

[Nana007]

It not that Hollywood is ruining "my asia" but that fact that they are going to ruin a good movie. If Hollywood could make a remake that has the same impact as the first with out watering it down, it would be okay. But I doubt that they would be able to do it justice.

[MeAndroo]

Ruining Asia? I thought this thread was about how terrible Hollywood is, regardless of where they get their ideas. If the act of making good movies was rated like a batting average, I'd have optioned 90% of the studios to double A long ago.

[Nana007]

MeAndroo I was refering to this in my post
Don't go see it--- America is not ruining your Asia.

[HomicidalMouse]

Rob Cohen? He directed a Rammstein video. Thats cool... I dont think it'll work though. In fact the more i think about it, the worse i imagine it'll turn out.

[Rich303]

I heard the original 'Fast and the Furious' came into being because a Hollywood executive read a magazine article about street racing.

Not a cool script that a bright new talent was working on, not an already great book. A magazine article.
Hence you get a shallow, vacuous movie.
I don't understand how 'Battle Royal' will translate to this style of film making.

[MeAndroo]

MeAndroo I was refering to this in my post

As was I. :-)

[yukio_michael]

All I'm saying is that, by and large, Battle Royale is not exactly a tour de force in the first place. It's a very interesting concept, and I think, an entertaining movie. But even the son of the director couldn't cobble together a decent sequel, so why deride "Hollywood" for trying to repackage it and sell it to American audiences... true they are bereft of new ideas, but that's why you go see Good Night & Good Luck perhaps, instead of American Pie XXIVI.

A movie like Battle Royale wont reach American audiences in its original form anyways, its sort of a niche market for the non-Japanese who do manage to see it--- You cant exactly go to Blockbuster video and get it... (Though, a side note--- I was pleased that when renting Zatouichi, they throw in Sonatine as a bonus--- nice)... It's hard to imagine someone walking down to Blockbuster and actually requesting Sonatine---

It's probably difficult to make the film very much like its Japanese original, see if you can name enough child-actors who don't annoy you to fill all of the roles. Hayley Joel Osment... hmm... and I'm stuck now.

When I mention, 'ruining your asia', I'm refering first to the fact that Japan itself has a problem with what is called, pakuri, or blatant copying without reference to the original--- so it's naieve to slight Hollywood for basically getting rights to remake an original, rather than copy it, basically what the second Battle Royale did with Saving Private Ryan, including an exact duplicate (for no real reason) of the scene of Tom Hanks & Matt Damon improvising by throwing mortor-shells---

Historically speaking, a good deal of writing & film borrows heavily from each other, so this is expected... It just so happens that in this case, it's a remake of an existing film, which would of course be credited...

It might not be good, but then who cares? You just don't go see the movie. I sometimes get the feeling that people fear that others will get a bad idea of what the original was like... I just think that those same people would never suffer through a Japanese movie with subtitles... this movie serves a different market than those people reading thist thead.

Last, if Japan thought it could make money with The Ring 4: Ring Camp! I don't think it would hesitate to keep making sequels... So, again, I think we should drop the presumption that Japan somehow has cornered the market on artistic creativity.

I think Korean film is probably at a higher point right now, but that's a whole different topic alltogether.

[MeAndroo]

Am I the only one who finds the concept of a movie with violence portrayed by school age children, even in over the top fashion, to be just asking for protests of insensitivity? Not that I find them warranted, but it seems almost inevitable.

When I mention, 'ruining your asia', I'm refering first to the fact that Japan itself has a problem with what is called, pakuri, or blatant copying without reference to the original--- so it's naieve to slight Hollywood for basically getting rights to remake an original, rather than copy it, basically what the second Battle Royale did with Saving Private Ryan, including an exact duplicate (for no real reason) of the scene of Tom Hanks & Matt Damon improvising by throwing mortor-shells---

Actually, that's a reason to make fun of the movie industry in both Japan AND America. No one is saying Japan is without blame in terms of lack of originality, but I was referring specifically to the Battle Royale idea. Remakes of movies rarely sit well with me, especially if the original was strong in its own right. Psycho springs to mind.

To even it out, I've heard Hollywood, specifically MTV will be remaking "The Warriors," a late 70s cult classic film that's enjoying a bit of a resurgence. Directed by Tony Scott, known for movies like Domino and Man on Fire, it will feature martial arts instead of gang-type violence. Does this sound like a terrible idea to anyone else?

[Python]

...*still has to revive from death* Oh god, so unoriginal. I don't have respect for some things of Hollywood (and what attached), and this is one of them. I don't even look at the american grudge when I see it lying in a shop!! It's stupid, allright. But it's the Japanese directing that makes their music so special. Like the Ring and Grudge have these aspects, that make you freak out ... they make you wait ... don't show some things ... and you'll be scared as hell at the end. I think the Americanized versions will just scare you, and make you check under your bed before going to sleep. But the Japanese versions just have SOMETHING that makes them special!!!

Anyway, I don't think they should remake BR (is it that obvious? nooo XD). I don't think it'll be better, nor a better remake than the others.

[yukio_michael]

Actually, that's a reason to make fun of the movie industry in both Japan AND America. No one is saying Japan is without blame in terms of lack of originality, but I was referring specifically to the Battle Royale idea. Remakes of movies rarely sit well with me, especially if the original was strong in its own right. Psycho springs to mind.I sort of liked Gus Van Sant's frame-by-frame reproduction of Psycho, but I've not ever met anyone who agreed that you should tamper w/ the Hitchcock original... I'm not overly fond of Hitchcock, so, maybe that's why I give it the pass.

Two movies in particular are a good example of how immitation can work, and work well, everyone knows of Seven Samurai & its follower, The Magnificent Seven, arguably both two of the greatest movies of all time, I think.

They are making a remake of Oldboy as well; I've seen the original so, I really don't care about the remake, but I think at the very least they are picking interesting scripts to make movies from. God, like I said, do we really need another American Pie?

I'd prefer at least that audiences are getting interesting and original scripts, even if they are comming from Asia, than have to bear another limp release from the National Lampoon group... How many 'teenage sex wager' movies can they make??

As an asside, adressing some other comments, of course the movie isn't going to be superlative compared to the original, but like I said, people who viewed the original movie are obviously not the movie's intended audience... Maybe they are the people who saw Fast & the Furious, Tokyo Drift, who knows...?

[MeAndroo]

God, like I said, do we really need another American Pie?

I'd prefer at least that audiences are getting interesting and original scripts, even if they are comming from Asia, than have to bear another limp release from the National Lampoon group... How many 'teenage sex wager' movies can they make??

I doubt I could agree with you more on how bad some of these movies are. Just another example of how much the public loves low quality, low-brow humor. Not that low-brow humor is bad, of course. Anyone who's seen a Mel Brooks movie knows how well it can be done. Sex with dessert isn't well done.

I suppose my main beef with Hollywood isn't that they take ideas, it's that they'd rather churn out remakes of relatively obscure movies in an attempt at a cash grab than search harder for good screenplays. But that's business, I suppose. I'm an idealist that would rather not have movies come out than see a bunch of mediocre stuff.

[jeisan]

hollywood has been remaking japanese movies for a long time, and theyll continue to do it. take yukios example of seven samurai/magnificent seven or yojimbo/a fist full of dollars/last man standing or non japanese works like hamlet/the lion king. anyway just dont spend your money on it. i also agree with yukio on korean films, theres been some good things from them in the last couple years. *waits for a hollywood remake of MSG*

[Jo Rose]

*nods* yes yes i agree with most of the people posted here. like some1 said it's bound to be a bunch of 'college students' running around screaming in the annoying way that they do. the reason most people liked Battle royal was because it was so new, not done before, ect ect ect.

anywho, im still not impressed, and although whats his face (director of Fast and furious) may be a good director, im sure he's gunna **** :cough cough: balls this right up

*jo is still not impressed :okashii: *

[Dutch Baka]

Those bastards!!! Keep your hands of this cult movies, and think about your own movies instead of just stealing stuff, and making easy money out of it!

[Noseybonk]

:okashii: NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!:okashii:
They could never redo the Chigusa death scene:( :( :(
Someone should get Kiriyama on these knobs in Hollywood:danger: :gun:

[White Comet]

i can imagine it now

"JOHNNIE!"
"TIM!"

*collar blows up*

(american version of nobu's death)

rofl

[MiaCarlax]

It takes quite alot for me to hate a movie. I did watch fast and furious - tokyo drift. Yet didnt hate it, wasnt impressed, But didnt hate it.

I'd like to see a remake to be honest, but I dont think it will be as good. But its nice to see things done abit differently. However hollywood will turn it into some horrible gorefest.

There stratagys seem to be as grewsome (sp ;[ ) as possible and as jumpy as possible.

I agree with whoever said that the japanese horrors have that something special. I think its because they arent relying on how real it can all look, but more on the atmosphere and making the auidence sucked into the story. Which all new US films seem to be failing to do. I havn't been scared by a movie in a long time. :(

[nurizeko]

Hollywood has been doing alot of copying these days, they already butchered The Italian Job, and that should be considored an act of war against the UK.
No point seeing a BR remake, I saw the originals, and they will probably be better then anything thats remade.

[Philip]

That is very bad idea! Damn...
But I have af feeling that we might go se the remake, beacuse of our curiousity :-)

[MiaCarlax]

I dont know.
I have mixed feeling about how the remake could go. It just depends their take on the plot, and the directors approach.

There are times where I felt BR lacked in ways of acting and other parts. The plot is orignal and the film good in general.

If the remake, takes the same way of portraying this and not over use special effects and turn the kids into 24 year olds. It will be quite good.

But if my faith in them fails, there will be a lack of talent and alot of half naked girls running around. Along with a few sex scenes.

If it is remade, I hope they do it with the orignal close in mind, and not to completely change it from the orignal state.

[EmperorHirohito]

Having seen both films any idea of a Hollywood inspired remake makes my poor stomach turn green. BR1 is good on its own whereas BR2 is not so good. But even in the hands of Hollywood a bad film can become a mega flop!

Hands Off Battle Royale, Hollywood!!!

[SushiShin]

Whenever there is an a japanese movie there's always an American remake!!! I've nothing against Americans but those bastard always use something from a book or inspiration from another movie!!!

let me give some example's:

Seven Samurai is in America: The magnificent Seven
The Hidden Fortress: Star Wars A New Hope
Ju-on: The Grudge( American Version)
Ringu: The Ring
One call: The Phonebooth
... ....

come on guys, why are they doing this?? Simple they wanna have all the audience for themselves and they want to make better movies of it, because they think that the original movies are a bit lack.

yeah right, it's the opposite way!!
like the king-kong movies/godzilla movies (original made by a japanese man)
now they make remakes of it, much more sad and painfull all because they have better Digital Effects. But the true story is made by asian people and this is what is all about. I hope there won't be a remake of Battle Royale.

there was even a rumour to make something else of Azumi!! :(

[EmperorHirohito]

Think one reason they are doing this is its one sure way to make money.

And if im not mistaken several of the Hollywood studios are now owned ( either partly or fully, im not sure) by guess who?

The Sony Corporation.

[a51ts4]

I can't believe this. They're going/are ruining good movies :(

[yukio_michael]

Okay, listen: There are three markets, one market who would sit through Battle Royale (Japanese version), a market who would only sit through the new English version, and don't have any interest in seeing the Japanese version, and then there is the middle section think of it as two circles overlapping, that part in the middle represents the people who saw the original and want to see how well the remake follows the original.

I'll ask you how in the world a remake can ruin an original movie, and whom is it ruining it for?

...The people who would never watch the Japanese version & whom will just be getting a re-contextualized version of a different script? The people who won't bother watching it because they saw the original and have no interest in the remake...? The people who are curious about the remake?

All of these posts make it seem as if a little part of Japan is dying when someone makes a remake of a Japanese movie, it screams zealotry in the worst way.

And do you know what? It happens everywhere. Battle Royalle 1 was only an original concept because it concerned children killing children, oh well, lets at least say adolescents, but the opening montage very much more so focuses on the shock value of a little girl, though none of the rest of the cast are that young. It's a very typical, (and you have to be very very creative to be non-typical in writing literature OR film....), last-man-standing affair, very much the likes of oh say "The Running Man", a film that was loosely adapted from the novel by Steven King.

Even Battle Royale II, directed by the original director's son, was a sloppy, derivative movie that stole heavily (both in camera style and actual scene-for-scene copying) from Saving Private Ryan.... further, including the tacked on "maybe the terrorists aren't the enemy" offensive what the heck are you talking about point of view.

Japan even has a rampant problem of people stealing ideas from each other in their own country, it's a term called pakkuri, or use of content without crediting the original work... This happens so much in the music business it's ludicrous, and of course some of the content stolen is from that of American and other non-Japanese artists--- sometimes I thought, that it was done out of laziness, and because perhaps the people buying the music wouldn't know any better, but when your band is named "Rude Brains", and there is an American hardcore band named "Bad Brains"... maybe you should have taken a few more minutes to choose your band name.

Personally I find it interesting how these movies are made, the plots are interesting, if you have some sort of interest in the nature of plots, I would suggest you read Margaret Atwood's Happy Endings (http://users.ipfw.edu/ruflethe/endings.htm), as well, her book, Negotiating with the Dead elucidates that there are a number of very particular very common themes to literature which are often difficult to avoid...

Those of you who say oh say, Fight Club, should recognize that it's a simple remaking of a Jeckyl & Hyde theme.

But these original movies are made and contextualized for a Japanese audience, the language and actions of the characters are specifically written for a Japanese audience. I'm always curious to see how the bare elements of the plot are stripped out... There is absolutely no way to remake the movie in Engish and have the same overtones as the original, but it could very well be a good movie, though given it's director, I'm not sure of that.

There are a good portion of movies that are made from novels, and oddly noone decries, OMG! They are liek ruining Traum Novel!... It's just when we feel something we thought was ours is taken from us, and given to the public in perhaps a bastardized way, we feel we're losing a little bit of our own originality... You'll grow out of it, and when the movie comes out, have a few friends over, pop some popcorn, and and put in BRI... You may find people aren't as keen as you on Japanese film... but at least you can show them the original.

[reiyuki]

yeah... i heard about that -____-...... what's with hollywood now a days?
always remaking asian movies.....and making them...uninteresting....

[CharismaticDeath]

I don't like the sound of this at all... does any one know anything about the casting yet? It seems insanely hard to actually find anything out about this movie.

Unless something dramaticly makes me change my mind I'm not going to see it. If something isn't broken don't try and fix it... why remake a film that's perfectly good in the original... they are [mostly] not improved.

[yukio_michael]

yeah... i heard about that -____-...... what's with hollywood now a days?
always remaking asian movies.....and making them...uninteresting....Always? You mean the few recent times such as, Ring, & Grudge, and you probably don't know because it's Korean, Oldboy... that's quite a lot isn't it?

You're acting like this sort of thing is "stealing" ideas from the Japanese, whereas the Japanese people who produce these movies WANT to see them made in the United States as well, because it creates more money for them as well... Don't think that these movies could be made without the original authors express permission, and moreover, without the original producers getting PAID.

Unless something dramaticly makes me change my mind I'm not going to see it. If something isn't broken don't try and fix it... why remake a film that's perfectly good in the original... they are [mostly] not improved.Good, don't see it. It really doesn't matter, because you are NOT the target audience... Why do you think they are even trying to improve on the original, they are just taking a product and remarketing it to another culture... Japan does it, everyone does it, your precious Japan isn't being ruined.

[EmperorHirohito]

I can see it clearly now.
Here is the first news about the forthcoming blockbuster due to be released across America and Europe in the summer of 2008.
The plot of the film is very familiar to some people around the world, the prisons in America are overfilled to breaking point, so the powers that be have decided to send 100 death row inmates to the newly fortified and mined Island of Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay, California. Upon arriving on the island the prisoners are all fitted with the collars, that we all recognise and know what can happen if these collars explode, and are given a choice of weapons and are told that now they must kill there fellow inmates or be killed by them.
In the film the two remaining convicts left alive are told to fight to the death and that the winner will be given a complete pardon and relocated to anywhere in the world in a country of thier choice so that they can live out the rest of their life as a free person.
The title of the film will either be something along the lines of 'Prison Battle' or 'Fight for your Life' or some other catchy title.
As for the actors in the film, there will be a mixture of unknowns or those who have played minor parts in other films and not forgetting a couple of Hollywood actors on the 'A' list of top celebrities, without these actors the film will have no real appeal to audiences around the world.

However there is one thing that Hollywood will not do at any cost. It will not base the film around school children or college students. Following the recent fatal shootings across America in schools and college campii that has happened over the last ten years or so, the idea of basing the film around school children will be seen as a big NO NO.

Finally as you are now getting close to reading the end of this post, all that you have read is 100% fiction straight out of my mind, or is it?
Who knows if some scriptwriter is busy with pen and paper right now making a start on a script that will turn into the film that I have just described above.

You never know.............

[yukio_michael]

I think addressing the reasons why students kill other students would be a more honorable movie, than ignoring the subject altogether... See such movies as Zero Hour, or Elephant, for those sorts of exceptions to the rule.

[HitsugiMad4eva]

Omg they Cant Remake It It Wont Be As Good As The original They wont use school kids or a desert island they use somthing like world destruction or something along those lines omg omg the americans always remake japanese films just because they dont like wats in them

[kairu]

Finally as you are now getting close to reading the end of this post, all that you have read is 100% fiction straight out of my mind, or is it?
Who knows if some scriptwriter is busy with pen and paper right now making a start on a script that will turn into the film that I have just described above.
You never know.............

Well they had that movie that came out (I think... I'm not sure if it actually did or not now) about the people who were on a reality show and had to kill each other on some island or something. And I think they were prison inmates. Hahaha. I remember because, when I was watching the trailer, I was like "please don't be Battle Royale oh my god please don't tell me they did this to BR."

Anyway, it's been "announced" for a couple years now, but somebody somewhere said, some time ago (hahaha ssss), I think right after Virginia Tech, that there was no chance they'd begin making it until like 2008 or something because of all that'd been happening recently. As far as I know, though, they're still planning on making it.

I don't know how I actually feel about it. I mean, I can pretty much guess how it's going to turn out (I'm not a big fan of things like book adaptations and remakes and all that, usually), but that doesn't mean I won't give it a chance. I'll definitely be one of the people who sees it =P, but I don't have very high hopes...

PS- As for casting, I hope they get a bunch of originals, maybe some well-known actors to play the adults, and possibly bring back Chiaki Kuriyama. They can't possibly change the ages of the characters drastically and still call it a remake, so I hope someone doesn't make that terrible decision.