Japanese Oscar to be remade in the U.S.
by Tatiana Siegal
MPCA has nabbed U.S. remake rights to the Japanese film “Departures,” the surprise foreign-language winner of the 2008 Academy Awards.
The company, which was co-founded by Brad Krevoy, secured the rights from Japanese production company Sedic.
“Departures,” which has pulled in more than $75 million in Japan, centers on an unemployed cellist who retreats to his hometown and accepts a position as a mortician, where he learns the Japanese art of encoffinment. MPCA is already at work on the U.S. remake of another Japanese hit, “Yomigaeri,” which is being developed by DreamWorks under the title “Rainbow Bridge.”
Krevoy, whose producing credits include “Dumb and Dumber” and “A Love Song for Bobby Long,” said he sparked to the property because of its universal appeal.
MPCA’s Mike Callaghan and Reuben Liber as well as Sedic’s Toshiaki Nakazawa and Filosophia’s Tetsu Fujimura co-produce.
Original story at Variety.