Dollmaster movie

Well, lots of people find BJDs creepy. But I guess this really goes back to how much being true to the original matters.

 

Except *******Doll Master spoilers follow******

if you watch the movie then you know that the dolls aren't creepy killers in the first place (well not really). There is a doll that's the main "bad guy", but it's not a BJD.

As for the criticism....well every remake they've made has been a disappointment in some way to me, it's only logical to be skeptical about this one.

 

Ehhh, just an OT side note:

Newline was mainly responsible for Lord of the Rings. In fact if it had remained in Miramax's hands they would have messed it up BIG TIME. Watch the EE extras and read articles, you'll know what I'm talking about. We're lucky Newline took it off their hands. Really, any credit Miramax has is just that...a name in the little rolling credits at the end because they made an agreement with Newline so they get some of the profit. They sold their rights to LotR away. Newline does belong to Time Warner...but it seems they tend to hold on to their independence somewhat.

 

RAMBLING RANT WARNING (I'VE HAD TOO MUCH COFFEE AND I'M NOT SLEEPY YET)

Heh, sucky news eh? I posted this the day that news broke, my husband runs Dread Central so he had to put up a story and called me right away to tell me about it. He has not heard any additional news and that's not a surprise, because the Asian film market has been hot since Ring made it's big remake splash, but it's been getting hot since Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon did so well. The only thing is people snap up the rights and then do SQUAT with them.

A Tale of Two Sisters HAS been optioned by the way, along with spectacular films like
- My Sassy Girl
- My Wife is a Gangster (snapped up by Queen Latifah of all people)
- Old Boy (this should be fucking UNTOUCHABLE - if you've not seen any of Chanwook Park's films do so at any cost, you won't be disappointed)
- Chaos (from Hideo Nakata, director of Ringu)
- Dark Water (yet ANOTHER Nakata film, this one will star Jennifer Connelly and I think is already trailering in theatres)
- As mentioned already The Eye (by Tom Cruise's production company)
- Infernal Affairs (they will NOT be able to replace Andy Lau OR Tony Leung OR Anthony Wong, not. Possible)[/i]

There are a lot of foreign, especially Asian, films being bought up for US remake treatment all the time.

The real problem in the case of Dollmaster being remade here in the states is because it IS Miramax. In the film geek world they're NOTORIOUS for treating their foreign films rights properties like crap. Ever hear of Shaolin Soccer? How about the retardly renamed "Kung Fu Soccer"? If not it's not a surprise, but in Hong Kong Shoalin Soccer broke every box office record and swept up every major film award and it's a f'awesome movie. Miramax grabbed it, let it stagnate for months all the while cracking down on online sellers of the original HK DVD print and sending out cease and desists to people for selling something they held the rights to.

Then they altered the chronology of the movie, changed the music, thankfully changed their minds about dubbing it, but only let it sit around some more. Finally they quietly snuck it onto retailers shelves after having released it in a paltry handful of cities theatrically. Even the cover art sucks, it's sad. And if you remember Iron Monkey coming out stateside, that's a good memory since Miramax also non-released that kiiller Donnie Yen flick.

And the best point being made in this thread is what DO Americans know about BJD's? Nada really, we're still a pretty exclusive group. So that means this remake may well sit around and around and around and never get made. What a waste! And even then, if it does get made it'll probably get handed over to some hack like Paul W.S. Anderson, arg :cries:

There is good news about Battle Royale, reportedly the Japanese company that owns the picture has said they will only sell distro/remake rights to the movie for a ludicrous amount of money, something like 10 million - this would be to insure that if someone bought it they damn well better do it some justice in order to make back what they spent on obtaining the rights. GOOD IDEA!

I don't have huge issues with remakes - hey John Carpenter's EXCELLENT The Thing is a remake and The Magnificent Seven is a remake of Kurosawa's fantabular Seven Samurai, and even the recent remake of George Romero's CLASSIC Dawn of the Dead is damn good - but the aggravating thing about US remakes of foreign titles, is they exist simply because the general America audience just won't truck with foreign films especially if there are subtitles involved. A sad, but plain truth. How awful was it when I saw Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon to hear people bitching it was subtitled?

I could go on (if that's not already obvious...) but now I am a lil sleepy, sorry for the crazy rant, hope it's not a thread killer...

Hopefully more studios will go the way of Ju-On and the Ring sequel by getting the original director to handle the remake.

 

D'oh!!!! I knew this. Yeah, actually Newline *saved* LotR. Miramax wanted to cut it down to one movie.

I picked a bad week to cut down on caffeine, I guess.

 

True, but such vehement OMG LET'S GO PROTEST IN HOLLYWOOD RIGHT NOW sentiment is a little over the top.

Popular stuff will be remade, it's not just an American thing. I've heard plenty of good English songs that have been massacred by some foreign singers/lyric writers, lots of good American TV shows that have been rewritten for foreign TV that were so terrible I couldn't stand watching them. It happens. Oh well.

Besides, if this movie is going to be -that- bad, then people -will- stay away in droves and the studios will stop the remakes.

Whatever happened to Shall We Dance anyway? It just sort of disappeared.

 

This thread makes us sound like a bunch of ridiculous Chicken Littles.

Remakes are nothing new -- other countries do them in addition to the US. Remakes aren't always bad. AND a lot of the remakes, such as Ring, aren't even entirely remakes as they were based off of novels, comics/manga, or other primary sources.

The original versions of these films are often available. My local cinema is currently screening Bright Future, an excellent (non-horror) Japanese film, and the same cinema has played host to a variety of good, subtitled movies from all over the world. If you want to see the original and ignore the remake, you have that option.

Moreover, as the more levelheaded among as have pointed out, the film is *not out yet* the film is not even cast, scripted, or filmed yet! It's ridiculous and premature to start freaking out now, don't you think? Why should we assume that it's going to be awful anymore than we should assume it should far exceed the original? Both are within the realm of possibility, as is everything in between.

 

I have bootleg suicide circel and bootleg battle royale.

and damn if they arn't good bootlegs.

not alll bootlegs are bad ^_^

 

i wantto hug you.

my lil bro is a HUGE horror fan. i mean huge. so much that he wnats to attend tom savini's art hoor school. which is not that far away. the originial dawn of teh dead was filmed at the monerville mall where moonxtal WORKS. and where I have gone shopping on several ossiciaons. plus day of teh dead was filmed at the wampun mines. not that far away. so horror is in teh blood of the people around here.

Miramix is a horrid movie studio . they simply just have a bad hibit of making BAD MOVIES.

maybe we'll be lucky and some company will buy Doll master off them. or they suddently become 'smart' and have the oriinal diretcor do it.

as for dark water.

yup seen the trailers.

fangoria did an artoicle on it.

they say.

"go see the originial"

maybe I'll write to Fangoria. an dtell them about this horror.

 

But you could buy official versions. Atleast BRs are released with English subs. Bootleg's good quality doesn't allow you to steal.

Also, people don't care if remakes are good or bad as so many prefer a bad localized version to a good original with weird culture/language. So the amount of people seeing it doesn't really prove it to be good or bad. Not everyone is like that, but after hearing so many not even watch the original versions.. They were first. They were how it was meant to be, without changing things to fit your local side of the world. I haven't seen all remakes in the world, but there sure are some horrid ones collecting fans.

 

originial verions do not play on my machines.

it'd be nie to have them. but i would never get to wacth them. unless i beg my father to spend a lot of money just to fix the region codieing on both DVD players in ther house.

BR and SC I bought of ebay they came in a 3 pack BR special version, SC normal version, and Verses normal version.

and ui ust bought that version of Doll Master. with plans on pkaying teh yes asia version of it. teh special version.

 

Ringu was an adaptation of Koji Suzuki's novel by Hideo Nakata and The Ring is definitely a remake of just the Japanese film and paid no attention to the novel. All the stuff about the horses and the farm, etc. etc. was all from writer Ehren Kruger.

The Ring is an "ok" remake" - not awful but not nearly as frightening as Ringu and it takes odd liberties with the plot that kinda make no sense other than to make Samara's family seem more "Western" - but that's a debate for PM or another forum.

Definitely true but you'd cry if you knew just how many people will say things like "oh it's originally a French film?" Most people never know because marketing is only for the new, luckily with the internet and a little curiosity if someone likes a movie enough they will eventually find out if it was a remake.

I think the "freak out" factor is definitely a knee jerk reaction and I'm sure most us will not live and die by this remake - personally as someone who is privvy to lots of movie news and scoops every day it's sad to see more and more foreign properties and classic films being bought and remade when there are TONS of screenwriters out there with great scripts and new ideas for fresh original movies (God bless the boys behind SAW), believe me I've read the scripts, they're good. But Hollywood is a money machine and that's the way it goes. Que cera cera right?

HUGS to you! How cool that you shop in that mall, lol. Tell your bro to go to Savini's school, the man's an FX genius and earned his godlike status in the genre, but he's got MEGA attitude (what a let down), but who cares though, learn from the guy and move on.

I'm sure Fango knows about the Dollmaster remake, that's their bread and butter, but I think it's under their radar somewhat as the movie wasn't huge in Korea as far as I've been told and there's no big name like Hideo Nakata attached to it.

 

I'm probably going to be eaten alive if I say this, but, I PREFER the remakes ^^;; I've seen "Ringu" and "Ju-On." Both were snoozers in my opinion.

And I preferred the jazzed up storyline in The Ring as opposed to the original Ringu. I mean, really. If you like the original better, keep liking it! Doesn't mean you have to come down so hard on the remakes. Not going to see it, and promoting the original, are much more effective than OMGZREMAKEGRRRRR.

Anyway, on the topic of the dolls themselves, has anyone contacted CustomHouse about it? Perhaps they know something we don't. Or we could find out if they've been approached about producing dolls for the American version.

BJDs or not, I'm looking forward to seeing what an American twist will do for this film. After seeing The Doll Master, once again, I wasn't all that impressed. It's a B horror film.

::WARNING, DOLL MASTER SPOILER::
Lastly, the dolls who were actually doing the killing in The Doll Master weren't CH Ais, for the most part, they were those big, life sized dolls. I mean, "the spirits" of Damien and Mina were doing things, but not the dolls themselves (no BJDs moving on their own that we actually got to see, unless you count that one doll opening its eyes.) So replacing them wouldn't upset me all that much. Hopefully the filmmakers will realize that a child's toy type doll (i.e. Chuckie) isn't what this film calls for.

~Megan

 

Personally, I prefer originals...so more then likely, I'll just wait until they finally release the original or I finally have room in my computer to bit torrent it.

Me? I don't WANT BJDs in it. Understandibly that it would be a huge difference from the original, but thinking of being a collector of these dolls and dealing with the frightened reactions of them(like many have for Puppetmaster) when I take them out...I'd rather not be ridiculed for that. I'd more prefer that people see how exotic these dolls are as opposed to them "Being thoes dolls in that freaky movie". But that's just my opinion.

However, just because they have the rights doesn't mean that it'll be released. Hell, remember the whole American McGee's Alice deal? I also know of several other movies that I would love to see on the big screen that have been shelved, one of them includes the movie Neverwhere(based on the book by Neil Gaiman), which is currently in posession of Jim Henson studios. Though I cannot release the means of my knowledge of this; I've read the script, and it's awesome...yet...they have no plans on releasing it anytime soon.
This might come into effect with this Dollmaster remake.

Also, it may come to a skeptical audience, if it does come. People will just think it's just another remake and not bother seeing it...
It could happen.


Honestly, you guys are getting worked up over nothing. Just follow it in the next few years, and when they get a director/writer/etc, THEN you can complain.

Just my 2¢.

As for the Battle Angel Alita movie....that I really won't mind. It's better then the rumored DBZ movie(thank GOD that was shelved). I'm just hoping they follow the Manga as opposed to the Anime. The anime has nothing on the Manga, IMO. And they had better keep her name as Alita. Gally sounds horrible.


Now...I must go scare away the massive amounts of birds in my front yard to keep them away from pooping on my car. STOOPID BIRDS!

 

I just bought the Doll Master DVD from www.animeARIGATO.com. It cost about $13 or so and has the English subtitles. It is also coded for all regions, so you will be able to view it on any DVD player.

It is an excellent movie, and I highly recommend it. The website also had the movie "House of Flying Daggers" for the same price. It too had the English subtitles. Another great movie and highly recommended.

Thomas

 

I wont eat you! I liked The Ring actually a lot more then Ringu. The Ring was beautifully directed and just can't get over how some scenes were just stunning. I thought remakes were kinda bleh, but after I saw that movie my opinions changed. Ringu is good in it's own right, but I dunno, it just didn't scare me as much as The Ring.

Welcome! XD

 

I own it. It's not a bootleg, but you can email the website and ask them. It's a great movie.

 

I think it will be interesting to see what sort of dolls they use in the movie. Unless the producers of the film have a love for and understand the appeal of our BJD's they may design their own doll (largely based on their budget constraints).

It is also likely that they will design a doll that is able to be mass produced in retail outlets. Hollywood will always look for opportunities for merchandising opportunities. Even if they made their own lovely resin dolls, they will make a cheap vinyl version that they can sell at WalMart or TRU if they are still in business.

It will be interesting, though, no matter how they do this. I just know that when I saw the Doll Master movie and saw that my St. Demian was exactly like the one in the movie, I was absolutely thrilled.

Thomas

 

Wow! Many many good points have been put up here, but I can't quote them all. But I wanna add something...

Most of the 'remakes' aren't really remakes at all, at least to me. The Ring and The Grudge seemed like the word 'interpretations' might describe them better. A remake would try to stick close to the original, but I think an interpretation would take a good idea and look at it in a different way, which isn't a bad thing at all. It's hard to look at an interpretation and say 'It failed cause it wasn't like the original!' because it's like an opinion; everyone's is different. I mean, some movies just CANNOT be replicated. Just like (I know this is gonna start a tangent, but) "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". :wink:

Johnny Depp is going to play Willie Wonka in the new one. But there's no actor that can replicate Gene Wilder as Willie Wonka (Gene Wilder rocks so hard XD ). So the only thing you can do to do the movie justice would be to put a new and different spin on it, and Johnny Depp will DEFINATELY put his own spin on the part, and I'm expecting it to be great. So I think they chose a good actor for the part because I think he will give the original and the book their due props, and interpret it from a new point of view. Whether people like it or not is a different story, but it would be wrong to say that it will fail because it isn't like the original. :grin:

That said, I don't think anyone's freaking out that bad. I mean, even I went "Nooo!" when I read the topic, but it was just a knee-jerk reaction, like girlcreature said. And I don't blame Kai Nimura or anyone else for being skeptical of this remake. Let's face it, bad remakes HAVE been made, and when they're bad, they're painful. ops:

I saw The Ring and Ringu and BOTH of them scared the living bejeezus outta me. 'Ringu' was scary cause it looked more like it might happen in real life, but the atmosphere of 'The Ring' made me on the edge of my seat with my hands over my eyes the whole time.

XD!!!!!

 

In response to nakitama

Totally TOTALLY agree. Honestly, I found the original Ringu and Ju-On to be much more intellectual and brain-messing up then the American remakes. Nothing against anyone, but I've found that the remakes made for the US have to be "Stupidized" for the American public, not because the general populace is stupid...but...well...the general populace is stupid. XD Honestly, a good majority of movie goers here in the US want to see a Horror film to be scared...not have their mind messed with to hope that they get scared. I've found that too many people around me get confused over the simplest things in movies, such as some friends who have seen Ringu after seeing The Ring have said "That wasn't scary at all...I hated it."

As for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...it's best to not even THINK of the original, simply because this is Tim Burton directing it. Tim Burton, because he is a creative genious, is going to take this story, rip it apart, and make it his own in most respects. There will be a flashback(Christopher Lee being Wonka's father; and it's a habit of Burton's. He LOVES flashbacks), and the visuals are going to be different. I think that this movie, though I think it has the potential to be a good movie, will be shunned by most movie goers. It'll be like Planet of the Apes all over again...
For Doll Master, I think it will depend on the director and the writer of this remake to see if it will be a good movie or not. This is something we've yet to build conclusion on...we must be paaaaatient.

I believe alot of the reactions stirred up were simply shock. Alot of mixed feelings of "if they bring it here, people might find out more about BJDs" which, depending on the person, could be good or bad.

This is just something all of us will have to watch in the future and build our conclusions from what develops.

I would have preferred if they just either subbed or dubbed it to come over here, that way all of us BJD lovers would be able to see it on the big screen, and other skeptical movie goers would keep their distance because of subs. XD


As for the birds...My previously blue colored car is now colored DAHLMATION! Some birds are gonna get it if they come back tomorrow.

arrrrg.