New Line reportedly once interested
Categorize this under: “No duh.”
Producer Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment is confirming the headline-grabbing and tragic Virginia Tech massacre has cramped Battle Royale‘s chances of getting remade in the U.S. any time soon.
Kinji Fukasaku’s powerful and controversial film pits a class of ninth graders against each other on an island. Armed to the teeth, some students form alliances, others go blood-crazy, eager to slaughter their chums. At the end of this shocking trial, only one student is allowed to go home alive.
In an interview with The New York Times, Lee – the film’s remake rights holder who has been widely responsible for many U.S. J-horror translations – says New Line was circling “Royale,” however, the studio never officially agreed to participate in the project and stated there was “no news” on that front. Lee adds that if “Royale” ever does reach our shores a certain amount of sensitivity has to be taken into account in the wake of Virginia Tech.
Or Vertigo could just let The Condemned stand as a cheap knock-off and leave Fukasaku’s original film alone.
Source: Ryan Rotten, IGN
