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Memorable scene from THE HIDDEN FORTRESS(1958).
© Pacific Film

Toho Rebuilding THE HIDDEN FORTRESS

By: Jarrod Sarafin, News Editor
Date: Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Source: Variety

Toho may have been giving their GODZILLA creation a vacation the last few years but that's not stopping them from planning other highly ambitious projects. Variety reports that the production company will be remaking Akira Kurosawa's 58 classic, THE HIDDEN FORTRESS, a film expected to hit the Japanese audiences very soon. The trade reports that Shinji Higuchi will be directing the project while thespian Hiroshi Abe will be filling in the role previously made famous by Toshiro Mifune. The princess, previously portrayed by Misa Uehara, will be taken over by actress Masami Nagasawa. The two bumbling peasant characters (They inspired Lucas for C-3PO & Artoo.) will be combined into one single character played by Jun Matsumoto.

Production on this remake begins on Thursday and is scheduled to enter post-production by the end of the year. Toho plans for a May 10 theatrical release. No word yet on whether this gets a international release outside of Japan.

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Comments/Responses

alphan • Oct 30, 2007, 01:48am •

Remake, remake, remake. I really can't stand it anmore.

WISEGUY562 • Oct 30, 2007, 07:19am •

Never seen it, so it's new to me. Either way I'm not too fond of foreign films. Unlike many people here in the USA that seem to always be ready to sing their praises regardless of the crap they put out, I'd rather stick to home cooking.

Pirre • Oct 30, 2007, 09:15am •

Too bad that all American movies these days seem to be remakes, either from old(er) movies or the "foreign" ones. And lets not forget the countless comic flicks (granted some are awesome). Very little original scripts get made I think.

I'm not saying there are no crappy "foreign" movies (more than enough , really, I know, I'm from Belgium , so... ) , but many good European or Asian movies get remade in America (and not always better).

brthack • Oct 30, 2007, 10:25am •

Okay, I'm usually one who's pretty open when it comes to remakes. But when they start remaking Kurosawa films, they've gone too far...

mckracken • Oct 30, 2007, 10:28am •

I actually dont think this one needs a remake either however I can see their logic and TOHO is being a lot smarter about their remakes than Hollywood is. Older black and white titles, and silent films ARE the perfect choice for remakes, after all.
It might be nice to see an update of this one if done well.

alphan • Oct 30, 2007, 11:45am •

Ok. There are remakes and remakes. Some movies are meant to get a newer version of it. Especially when the first movie didn't satisfy the viewers. Some remakes are hidden remakes. The writers simply take the idea of a movie and change it in a way that the source is hardly to recognice. It happend with "The Island" wich is a really good 'reuse' of the "Logan's Run" script. I can live with that!
Battlestar Galactica 2k is a really good reinvention of a sometimes crappy and sometimes brilliant original. I can live with that too!

But there are movies that really don't need a remake. Because they are good. Even for the modern times. Logan's Run or Westworld are two of those movies. They don't need to be remade. In a worst case scenario it might end up in another "The Omen" desaster.

Just picture it... a remake of 2001. A remake of Terminator... ALIEN... Back To The Future... you name it!

Necronomitron • Oct 30, 2007, 04:21pm •

Terminator had two remakes disguised as sequels.

SONYMANswallows • Oct 30, 2007, 08:18pm •

2001 cannot be remade

But lets be honest, the original Omen was laughably bad

Abadox50 • Oct 31, 2007, 12:18am •

@SONYMANswallows

You did not just say that... The original Omen is a timeless classic. The remake was so shot-for-shot that it completely defeated the purpose.

alphan • Oct 31, 2007, 01:44pm •

@Abadox50
Absolutely correct. The first Omen is one of my favorites. And the remake was in fact just a bad copy of it.

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