[ep3_jdm]

Okay, Im not sure if anyone posted this yet...But i couldn't find a post about this topic.

What do you guys think about US film industry now taking asian films and remaking them into american films?

I personally think that the US has no more ideas and decided to steal ours to make it their own....I don't mind them doing it....BUT MAN!!! can you at least make the movie decent enough! expecially horror flims....badly put.
Its not scary at all comparing to asian films...Im not sure if they have their limit to how scary they can make it...but man.

Another thing I hate that in their trailer.....They thank the people remaking and rewriting the asian films....They basically said that these people came up the the story!! but it came from a past asian film!

I apologize if I am off my head. Thank you

[dacXlee]

I think there is an older post about it, not sure thought.
Anyway, it's sad, but they have the money, so they buy the rights easily...

[LightRain]

Okay, Im not sure if anyone posted this yet...But i couldn't find a post about this topic.

What do you guys think about US film industry now taking asian films and remaking them into american films?

I personally think that the US has no more ideas and decided to steal ours to make it their own....I don't mind them doing it....BUT MAN!!! can you at least make the movie decent enough! expecially horror flims....badly put.
Its not scary at all comparing to asian films...Im not sure if they have their limit to how scary they can make it...but man.

Another thing I hate that in their trailer.....They thank the people remaking and rewriting the asian films....They basically said that these people came up the the story!! but it came from a past asian film!

I apologize if I am off my head. Thank you

"Scary" is subjective to the individual. Culturally speaking, I tend to prefer Asian Horror cinema over US, but that's purely my preference since I'm a product of Asian culture. However, I know many American fans that are content with slasher films and will continue to seek them. I feel like this "remake" mentality/trend will eventually fizzle out, Hollywood producers are already finding it difficult to port certain themes that are quintessential in Asian cinema.

My Sassy Girl(KOR) -> My Sassy Girl(US) went straight to video.
Shutter(Thai) -> Shutter(US) failed to be a blockbuster; And to my knowledge there's talk amongst Japanese film makers of doing a remake.
Il Mare(KOR) -> The Lake House(US) failed to generate a blockbuster.
One Missed Call(JAP) -> One Missed Call(US) also failed to generate an audience
Infernal Affairs(HK) -> The Departed(US) failed spectacularly & also offended Asian audiences.
The list goes on...

While I agree that it's kind of a bummer that Hollywood has been recycling Asian movie themes/ideas. You have to keep in mind that it's a two way street. Hong Kong(and now China) has been using Hollywood stories & ideas for ages. Not to mention, that Asian movies have been recycled amongst itself. China has been notorious for stealing Japanese movie themes and rebranding/remaking them without proper licensing.

I think there is an older post about it, not sure thought.
Anyway, it's sad, but they have the money, so they buy the rights easily...

Yes, there probably is one. But since the mods haven't decided to lock this thread, I'll just post my comments here.

Will smith in old boy.. lol

That would indeed be pretty interesting.

[Atticus]

Infernal Affairs(HK) -> The Departed(US) failed spectacularly & also offended Asian audiences.

Failed how? As far as I'm concerned, that did become a block buster and was very popular, and got many 4 star ratings. I've never seen either of them, I'll watch Internal Affairs first but, I do know that they are both very successful.

[jkyo]

Infernal Affairs(HK) -> The Departed(US) failed spectacularly & also offended Asian audiences.

The Departed won FOUR oscars including: Best director (which was long overdue to Scorsese) and Best Picture.

If you don't know, the academy awards are the highest film awards in the U.S. And Best Picture is the most prestigious of all of the awards.

So....
Also it one for: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay

It was never meant to be anything like Infernal Affairs. It was taking a good idea and reworking it for a different audience with a different culture. People who were offended need to remember that a) the Chinese rights holders did not HAVE to sell it to Hollywood, they chose to, and It is not meant to be better/worse. Only different and more accessible to a Western audience.

And the most important part: c) people who would have never seen Infernal Affairs watched The Departed and then went on to watch the original. It was widely recognized as a REMAKE, and people were interested in the original. This equals Americans (42% of the world's military) being exposed to different culture. This equals a broadening of knowledge and acceptance of others. This equals world fucking peace.

So yea, I too wish my fellow american film students had seen Oldboy and recognized Chan Wook Park or Wong Kar Wai's genius. But for now, I'll take "I liked the Departed so I watched Infernal Affairs and it was good. Oh wow! Other cultures make great films too! I'm not as ignorant as I was before I saw this."

/end rant

[LightRain]

Funny how the two of you jumped on just one of the many examples I gave that illustrated my original point(which seems to have been overlooked). I'll grant you that I didn't check imdb before making the statement that "The Departed" was a failure. I'll give you points for making that observation, but I still stick to the fact that "Infernal Affairs" garnered a wider audience than "The Departed". In fact, jkyo proved my point exactly. People who have seen "The Departed" will often times seek out the original.

[Raoul Duke]

Anything the brings light to the films of the world outside of the US I think is ultimately a good thing. It's sad to see the US dominate alot of foreign markets and I really love that asia has such a strong domestic and foreign film market.

In general they seem to be a success otherwise companies wouldn't keep remaking them...from a financial standpoint it's alot cheaper to work from an established story and adapt it. Additionally in terms of marketing you've got some easy key points to promote it. The horror genre has obviously been adapted from alot because asian horror films are so different than american fare so much of it seems fresh and different and unique and something filmmakers want to tackle. And you gotta remember that the people wanting to do these projects obviously love the original films...enough to bring it to a wider audience. and they make money for the studios so it's not really a losing proposition for anyone. Yes you can get a horrible remake and yell at the world "just go rent the original!" but alot of US audiences simply don't watch foreign films.There haven't been that many asian films to be widely released in the US....maybe Crouching Tiger was the last major one I can think of. And that had Ang Lee attached which had already put out a number of american films so that helps it a bit.

So I don't think it's really a bad thing at all, would I rather audiences go hunt down the originals, definitely...

One of the more interesting remakes that seems to be in development is the same crew that did the Departed has rights to remake the Chaser. And I thought they handled the Departed quite well so chances are they'll try to handle the Chaser in the same way. Take the general concept and adapt it for american audiences. But we'll see...that's one of my favorite Korean films so I am a bit worried but ultimately what's the worst that can happen from a bad remake?

[toranosuke]

When it's done well - like in the case of The Departed - I guess I don't have too much of a problem with it. I rather liked the Departed, and that's after seeing Infernal Affairs several times.

But I really do wish that Hollywood would bring more Asian movies to the US straight, as is, re-releasing them in regular (not just art-house) theatres nationwide.

They seem to think that they need to have white or American characters in order to make it more accessible, and that it needs to be in English because too many people don't want to read subtitles. Which may very well be the case, but only goes to support the argument that the lowest common denominator "average American movie-goer" is an uncultured idiot.

Hollywood is in the business of making money. Period. If they were in the business of making good films, or telling good stories, we'd have a lot more art films - or just quality films period - coming out of the big studios. Instead, we get Transformers 3, romcoms, and the like, over and over again, while small-venue art houses continue to spotlight incredible Asian films that will never get a wider release here.

[dragonx311]

I do not believe Hollywood is out of ideas at all. I actually believe that they remake it with respect due to the popularity/awesomeness of the original. perhaps without the departed, western audiences would not have even known about the original.

Hollywood always has plenty of ideas, people just don't realize it outside of the big budget movies. people need to go out and watch movies like district 9. 2009's been good for blockbusters ..transformers, harry potter, disney/pixar, star trek, terminator, x-men, watchmen, 2012 just to name a few.

oh and to tack on some hatred .. dark water, the grudge, the eye were horrible remakes. ign ranks the departed top asian remake *hahaha*

[reza2000]

Look on the bright side.

As many asian movies remake into hollywood film, comic/superhero genre also the latest into asian movie scene.

Just look at slumdog millionaire.

[thescreamingqtip]

American cinema is a dying creature along the side of the road that no one even takes the time to put out of its misery.

Hollywood is out of original ideas so they get them from either:
A. books (I'm not saying this is exclusive to the US-it just explains the origins of a lot of good movies)
B. TV series turned into movies
C. remakes of old classics
D *drum roll* ASIAN DIRECTORS!!

They do this because they see directors like Chan-wook Park and think "wow...i could never come up with an original story line or portray it in such a creative way...but I can throw a big-name American actor in the main character's place, and then people will pay me money!!"

basically America has become a culture that watches movies for the actor or actress in it, rather than the story, originality, or concept.

if you don't believe me, look at the abominations to come:

1.Oldboy with Will Smith

2.A Bittersweet Life directed by Spielberg starring Denzel Washington

3. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance with (rumored) Charlize Theron

4. A Tale of Two Sister's remake that is already out titled The Uninvited


the list goes on but i think my point is clear. I personally dont believe any of these lead roles can be filled by these "stars." they lack the insanity and intensity to portray the characters in the original Asian movies. And spielberg doesnt have the stomach for a movie like Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. All of these remakes will be de-clawed and de-fanged so that American audiences can properly swallow them.

the US needs more directors like Darren Aronofsky to make worthwhile films, and give American cinema a second chance at life, and an opportunity to crawl off of the roadside and into the arms of welcoming moviegoers who can appreciate anything besides comedies about how wild college life is.



*I don't mean to be a troll and piss people off. if you dont agree with me, thats fine. these are just my random thoughts explaining why i seldom watch movies without subtitles.

[Raoul Duke]

I think it's quite unfair to blanket label the US film industry as being out of ideas based on what is the major box office draws we see here. The US has one of the most prolific and diverse film industries in the world, and yes, it is not represented in the top ten box office numbers that you see but really we have more movies made than any other region. There are some truly fantastic directors that rival anything the world can deliver and really as time goes on there are more and more of them that continue to excel at making exceptionally great films...think names like Gondry, Gallo, Jonze, Sophia Coppolla (sp?), Kaufman, Linklater and so many others.

I think the problem is that us Asian movie nerds are much more forgiving in asian films than we are with american ones. There are a ton of crappy asian movies that get alot of praise and we aren't anywhere near as critical because we want that sort of indie cred / film geek thing going on for us so we sound more sophisticated in conversation...but really the US makes and finances some awesome films. But most of them are a bit under the radar...shit even most of Clint Eastwood's films get a smaller release than the Twilight movies. But they do really good...they aren't flops. We have far more flops and shit films because quite frankly Hollywood has so much money to throw around and waste and they get all the attention...but that is in no way representative of the whole industry.

My main example will be Yatterman...based off a crappy tv show....and the movie is fun and exciting and complete senseless fun...much like Transformers....neither are deep or meaningful. But folks like us will forgive a fill a movie like Yatterman because it's Miike and then bash Transformers because it's so stupid and vapid and senseless. There's really not much difference in the roots where those two films came from but we'll give Yatterman ten times the chance because it's Miike and asian and 'different'....but it's really not that great of a movie.

So yea....I think it's stupid to knock American movies when there's a ton of great films around....if you think there's not then it's your own fault for ignoring the great shit that comes out of here.

[Chance_X74]

Okay, Im not sure if anyone posted this yet...But i couldn't find a post about this topic.

What do you guys think about US film industry now taking asian films and remaking them into american films?

I personally think that the US has no more ideas and decided to steal ours to make it their own....I don't mind them doing it....BUT MAN!!! can you at least make the movie decent enough! expecially horror flims....badly put.
Its not scary at all comparing to asian films...Im not sure if they have their limit to how scary they can make it...but man.

Another thing I hate that in their trailer.....They thank the people remaking and rewriting the asian films....They basically said that these people came up the the story!! but it came from a past asian film!

Hollywood has long since been out of ideas to the point that they have starting to look toward films from the 80's now and even starting to "re-imagine" (whatever, a remake is a remake) their own TV series (Bionic Woman, V, etc). I have no problem with bringing a foreign film to a wider audience, my issue is with their inherent ability to completely destroy any point the original may have been making and / or any semblance of mystery or thought by spoon-feeding explanations to their audiences.

"Um, sir? the 17 year old in isle 5 says she doesn't get this one part so we need a scene of pure exposition that thoroughly explains our plot before the climax."

Silent Hill, anyone? Let's stop everything so we can squeeze in a five minute explanation just in case you didn't get the obvious clues throughout the rest of the film and then we can move on to the finale.

And Hollywood can really destroy an Asian film. I do tend to watch the Asian version of a film before I even bother with the original simply because I tend to be completely disenchanted or downright repulsed were I to have seen the original first. I'd like to enjoy what I am viewing... then I seek out the (usually) superior original. Sadly, as abstract as Asian cinema can be at times, I generally find that the Asian version tends to make more sense than the convoluted mess Hollywood has come up with.

[abowloffire]

Watch what you want, don't watch what you don't want. They aren't robbing anyone by making these movies. Sheesh.

Also, there are tons of terrible Asian films. A lot of people here love Korean movies (there are great movies, and tons of bad ones), including those terrible, terrible romantic blahs they make.

And it's not like they're taking the movie and just replacing everyone with American actors. They change a lot of other stuff too (context, setting, blabla).

Although supposedly there's a Shijushichinin no ronin remake coming out, with Keanu Reeves as a mixed-race samurai among the 47, obviously as the hero. Hopefully they don't make him play Oishi's character. Now that one's going to be insulting if it ever does get made. That would be like putting a Japanese pretty boy (I will go with Nishikido Ryo, who similarly likes acting like a piece of cardboard) playing George Washington in an American Revolution film.

[Kaspar-Hauser]

As much as I usually abhor US remakes of Asian films, it does help the original films to get some attention, perhaps even distribution.

Which frankly, is something the world is in dire need of. With the Internet and soon digital 4K distribution in theaters, there's no excuse for an increase of cinematic interchange between countries.

Make it that a dude in Korea can see an Argentinian film in his local cinema, and vice versa.

And besides, it means money to the original filmmakers.

[princekero2003]

In all fairness, all movies are rehash of ideas borrowed from other sources. Hollywood and Asian cinema are no different. As there are those who seem to feel that Hollywood has run out of ideas, that's simply not true. Many of the movies you see are simply a product of what sells and what the audience wants or in some cases, a tax write off for some investors. They are several small independent features that are highly original and well made and acted but don't see the light of day or receive the same marketing blitz as some of the big budgeted film receives. Dustin Hoffman took a huge pay cut to make a small independent feature name "Wag the Dog", a great film which didn't get a wide release.

People also seem to forget that Asian cinema often borrow elements and plot points from older Hollywood fares. When I see many of the asian comedies, you can see how they "lifted" many scenes off from Charlie Chaplin. As for Asian movies becoming U.S. films, that becomes a testament for the western world recognizing the quality story lines behind some select Asian movies. No longer will they become known only for Martial Arts and Chop socky fares. That being said, I anticipate Will Smith's version of Old Boy. He has some tall shoes to fill.

[fear666]

The goal is to do a film without working and give the illusion that it isn't a remake.
It's money that controls the cinema industry so it's not a surprise to see remakes more ofter than innovations

[monkey_king1234]

Hollywood raped my beloved Taxi!!!!

Seriously though, I doubt most people even realize it's a remake of another movie, Asian or otherwise.
They biggest problem I have is when they make a remake of a good and recent movie.
But I guess many people don't appreciate watching movies in their original language.
I only wish that Asian movie studios had the budget that Hollywood has.

As mentioned before, Hollywood is only about making money these days, not quality. Can't even remember last time I enjoyed watching a Hollywood movie.

In all fairness, all movies are rehash of ideas borrowed from other sources. Hollywood and Asian cinema are no different. As there are those who seem to feel that Hollywood has run out of ideas, that's simply not true. Many of the movies you see are simply a product of what sells and what the audience wants or in some cases, a tax write off for some investors. They are several small independent features that are highly original and well made and acted but don't see the light of day or receive the same marketing blitz as some of the big budgeted film receives. Dustin Hoffman took a huge pay cut to make a small independent feature name "Wag the Dog", a great film which didn't get a wide release.

I completely agree. I remember hearing something like there are only about 7 story plots and every movie every made fits in one of those 7 plots.

[kristykissy]

Wow I really didn't know there was that many films that had been remade here in the US...

I fairly don't agree with it.
And yes these US directors are fresh out of ideas, but I don't mind their comedy movies.
Their horror movies have slowly gotten less and less scarier.
I feel no fright, but when I watch Asian cinema horrors, I feel scared, I mean... I know it's cliche but xDD GIRLS WITH LONG BLACK HAIR AND WHITE EYES JUST... omg.

I still prefer it, no only because I want to learn many Asian languages but because I want to watch it because well, it's better. And the fact that I don't really enjoy being in the USA...

I wish to move to Asia ASAP.
And I'm white so I feel like an ass because xDD my ancestors probably ancestors of the people who are remaking.

I formally apologize to all the Asians here.

But usually the originals to movies are always better.

And the movie store I go to always has a small collection of Asian movies but I still get to get my share of Asian from the store than just the internet.

[abbaby]

steven spielberg has said his oldboy will be based on manga, not the wook film, so it will be an interesting watch, spielberg's vision is usually spectacular...