Geoffrey Rush has pulled out of the romantic comedy Eucalyptus, also starring Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe. No surprise really as the BBC are reporting, the filming schedule was clashing somewhat with his already bulging workload on the shooting of the two Pirates of the Caribbean sequels. I would presume that would be back to back (or even mixed day to day) filming.
I can’t decide if that is necessarily a bad thing or not, churning out two sequels at once banking on the original. In fact it is a huge trend in Hollywood to leap at sequels as soon as they can.
I mean here is the news today from the Guardian, that The Grudge is rolling towards a sequel. That’s no bad thing, I mean the original is quite good (although disjointed) and I have yet to see the US remake, but have heard good things. Yet that’s not the real problem here, the Studio see cash and they want a sequel. Have they got a writer or a director? Apparently neither are on board as yet. Let’s hope they are going ahead because they are within signing distance of this, but if they’re sitting in their offices shouting “That one returned well, throw out another one” then it’s surely bad.
what i’m saying about the ignorant part is that hollywood’s success seems to be based on the lack of knowledge of the original films. how many people knew there was a ringu or a ju-on before they went and saw them here in the states and loved them? you know what i’m saying? i know i’ve seen a few movies and was appaled afterwards by finding out they had already been done. like ‘the truth about charlie’ i didn’t realize it until i had seen ‘charade’ that it was a remake. i always try to keep my eyes and ears open nowadays. like, i litterally felt sick when i heard about ‘shall we dance’ and even more sick when i saw who was in it. i love the japanese film when i first saw it about 6 years ago and it just furiates me when american people remake things. what’s even sadder is i saw a j-lo true hollywood story last night and there was a snippet about the film and the director actually said that ‘he was trying to make a good story’ and i just thought to myself: ‘how the hell do you try to do something if it’s already been done?’ you know? so tired of this remake crap. really tired. and it pisses me off even more when ever there are original films out there that are brilliant like ‘skycaptain’ that almost litterally bomb in the box office and are shadowed by cheap remakes like ‘the grudge’.
well, i’ve written quite a bit so i’ll quit now.
Hey Jason. Not ignorant at all, I am a huge foreign movie fan, and especially far east horror.
I too am appauled at the remake factor in Hollywood at the moment, see earlier posts of mine on the subject.
I’m surprised at Grudge (not having seen it yet though) Ju-On was extremely fragmented and not a standard story telling experience, difficult for the western audience to follow. So unless Grudge has changed that, I’m surprised at it’s success.
Ringu has two sequels, and both aren’t as good, with 2 not even on the same scale. The Hollywood Ring 2 is departing from the storyline of the Ringu sequels, so it is attempting to break some new ground.
Still, you are right. Hollywood has, and continues to, remake perfectly good foreign movies and for the large majority, ruin them.
are you really shocked that there’s a sequel to the grudge? the original (ju-on:the grudge) has a sequel called “the curse”. what a shock eh? why wouldn’t american movie companies want to capitalize on someone elses work? it’s like when “reality” tv shows hit america. they are cheap as hell to produce. so what is the cheapest way to make a good movie in america? go find somebody else movie in another country, remake it and call it a day. sit back and collect a fat check. who needs writers when all the work is done for you. all you need are a bunch of desk jockeys doing computer effects and some actors that are on the brink of disappearing from the publics eye.
have you seen ringu yet? how about ringu2? no, well, guess what ringu has already been remade and ringu2 is currently in te works. so don’t worry. being ignorant of a film’s history is what the hollywood producers are preying on.
thanks.