Not sure if this is how it works but wouldn't they be in the Public Domain by now?
I was hoping that random company was Janus Films. That would mean Criterion releases for all of them.
More Buscemi at http://forum.reelsociety.com/^^ Public domain is funny and it depends on when the product was made and whether the copyright was updated in the 1970s, when they changed and extended copyright laws in the US. If it was made prior to 1923, it's in the public domain in the US; otherwise, it depends. Kurosawa made his films from the 40s up, so it's very likely the copyright is still valid in the US.
Anyway, his films are going to be remade crappily. The only thing that surprises me is it took Hollywood this long.
I don't get the pessimism here. I mean, turning Seven Samurai into The Magnificent Seven worked out pretty well, and Rashomon has already been copied to hell and back.
edited 25th Aug '11 5:03:02 PM by RavenWilder
The Magnificent Seven is an exception.
"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."I am very, very suspicious of this statement:
George Lucas isn't even considered that great a filmmaker nowadays, and he tried and succeeded to Americanize Hidden Fortress.
That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something AwfulI hope that any remake gets a new setting, even if they were shifted to somewhere in America it would not be a bad thing. I mean, you look at all the good "remakes" and they all change the setting, when you remove it from the origonal setting you bring in something that makes it fresh, as opposed to just being a remake for the sake of a remake.
An American gangster remake, or something would be sweet. Plus, it's divorced enough from the source material that it doesn't reflect on it if it's crap.
There was an attempt to remake Rashomon as a courtroom drama a few years back. Reportedly, the project was canned after the script was deemed terrible.
More Buscemi at http://forum.reelsociety.com/It may well be that if the founder of this company is all about cultural heritage, that her getting the rights is a good thing. She's at least aware that there's more to the value of the works than "Who'll pay me the most to remake it?"
And if this out-of-nowhere company could buy the rights, that means anyone else could have, too, if they coughed up the money. Would you really like to see The Seven Samurai in the hands of Adam Sandler? Ran by Quentin Tarantino? Rashomon by Jerry Bruckheimer?
The Magnificent Seven is an exception.
And Star Wars? And A Fistful Of Dollars? Are those exceptions too?
Pages Needing ImagesA Fistful of Dollars was made without Kurosawa's consent. He later sued Sergio Leone and the producers, winning a settlement.
More Buscemi at http://forum.reelsociety.com/I can see how Star Wars borrows from Seven Samurai, but I can't see how it would be considered a remake or adaptation.
Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — WatchI heard Star Wars was based off of Hidden Fortress, though there's so much it's based on that it's really hard to tell. I mean, I saw The Searchers a little while back, and when I got to the part where someone discovered the results of a Comanche raid, I thought, "That's a complete rip-off of that scene from Star Wars where Luke's aunt and uncle are . . . (beat) . . . Oh."
edited 27th Aug '11 4:00:52 AM by RavenWilder

I'm... I'm speechless.
Is anything sacred? ;_;