Originally published in Cathay Pacific Airways’ StudioCX Entertainment Guide in
January 2007
Asia Gets Its Hollywood Makeover
By Oliver Chiang
Hollywood knows that sometimes, the grass may very well be greener on the other
side, but does Hollywood get mad? No, it does not. What Hollywood gets is its
remake rights — at least, in the case of Asian cinema.
Recent years have seen a surge in Hollywood remakes of Asian films, and with hits such
as The Departed (based on Hong Kong triad film Infernal Affair), The Grudge 2 (Japan’s
Ju-On series) and The Lake House (Korea’s Il Mare) finding success in box offices
worldwide, the trend looks set to stay for a while. In particular, The Departed has had a
worldwide gross of over US$190 million to date, helmed by renowned director Martin
Scorsese and featuring an A-list cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack
Nicholson.
Certainly, remakes are nothing new in Tinseltown; it’s not difficult to recall titles such as
Ocean’s Eleven, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Miami Vice from the past few years.
Asian remakes too have had a relatively long history, with 1960’s The Magnificent Seven,
the American translation of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai,
providing a notable example.
However, whereas the point at which East meets West in the past mostly encompassed
gunfight action and martial-arts flicks (nicknamed “chopsocky”), the new wave of Asian
fervour is spread across a surprisingly wide range of genres. Not only have we had horror
standards like The Ring series (Japan’s Ringu) and 2005’s Dark Water starring Jennifer
Connelly (both originally from director Hideo Nakata), we’ve also seen ballroom-dance
romantic-comedy Shall We Dance (2004, Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez), a remake of
Shall We Dansu? (1996), and Disney’s inspirational sled-dog adventure Eight Below
(2006, Paul Walker, Jason Biggs), based on the original Nankyoku Monogatari (1983).
If any one person were responsible for this new wave of Asian films breaking upon
American shores, it would have to be “remake king” Roy Lee. The young KoreanAmerican producer first struck remake gold when he “discovered” and introduced
Nakata’s Ringu to DreamWorks. The purchase (DreamWorks paid Nakata a cool million
and change) was not without risk, however, as Asian horror films were “an untapped
resource” at the time, says Lee. But the gamble was well worth it; released in 2002, The
Ring went on to make it big at the U.S. box office, with a total domestic gross of US$129
million. Since then, Lee has added quite a number of remakes to his name, including The
Grudge, The Lake House and The Departed, with many more in the works.
Besides the tasty honey-pot of profitability, American movie moguls are also drawn to
the trend for a number of reasons. Sensing new opportunities, Asian directors themselves
have joined in the courtship, eagerly approaching their Western partners, willing to sell
the remake rights at a fraction of the possible gross. In the case of the Korean melodrama
Traces Of Love (2006), director Ahn Dong Kyu didn’t even wait until the theatrical
release of his film to announce his interest in an English-language version. Thus, Asian
directors often have a remake-friendly mindset when it comes to their original creations.
Another important factor is that remakes, like movie sequels, have already tested true in
the marketplace, cutting down the risk, as well as the cost of developing an original idea,
for the studios. In the case of Asian remakes especially, American producers can cast
their gaze over the field and select the cream of the crop — proven blockbusters like
Infernal Affairs and Ringu. Box office history seems to have shown that, if redone with
Hollywood actors and familiar trappings and locations, these film concepts also stand a
good chance of making money in America.
This, however, leads to one of the biggest critiques of the trend: the American
translations lose the original cultural contexts, and themes, characters and plot points may
suffer from shallow development. The idea that American audiences need to be shielded
from the unfamiliar aspects of the originals or spared having to read subtitles seems
patronising to some on both sides of the globe. Others point to an inherent “we can do it
better” mentality in such projects as evidence of a kind of racial superiority complex on
the part of the re-makers.
For its part, Hollywood has noticed such criticisms and responded by bringing in Asian
talent to work on remakes. Both Nakata and director Takashi Shimizu were invited to
helm the American versions of their originals, The Ring Two and The Grudge films
respectively. In The Grudge 2, Hong Kong actor Edison Chen even played a starring role
opposite leads Sarah Michelle Gellar and Amber Tamblyn.
While Hollywood is still largely monochromatic when it comes to skin colour, the
marriage of Asian and American cinema still stands to benefit to both sides. The Asian
film industry, already gaining international attention through such martial-arts epics as
Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Zhang Yimou’s The House Of
Flying Daggers (2004), will likely see further exposure, leading to a rise in filmmaking
throughout the region. And while there will inevitably be a slew of mediocre offerings to
come, critically acclaimed, blockbuster remakes like The Departed show that the
translation can be done well.