U.S. STUDIOS TO REMAKE FILMS IN JAPANESE

Concerned about the declining box office for Hollywood films at the Japanese box office, at least three studios, 20th Century Fox, Paramount and Warner Bros., are remaking some of their classic films with Japanese casts, the London Daily Telegraph reported today (Thursday). Paramount Japan marketing director Hisamichi Kinomoto said that the studio is remaking Ghost with Japanese actress Nanako Matsushima in the Demi Moore role and Korean actor Son Seung Heon in Patrick Swayze’s part. “If the essence of that story appeals to Japanese, we should use it to attract new audiences,” he said. The Telegraph observed that while foreign films accounted for 73 percent of the Japanese box office in 2002, they accounted for just 43 percent in 2009.