Variety on THE GRUDGE remake

[Stephen Cremin]

THE GRUDGE (US) opened in Taipei last weekend.  It only took US$55,000  
on opening weekend.  I don't have the opening box office figures for  
JU-ON but it made US$1m in the capital; the sequel about US$450,000.   
In comparison, Miike Takashi's ONE MISSED CALL opened to US$235,000 in  
March 2004 and grossed US$627,000.

I think audiences in Taiwan wanted more from the JUON series (in terms  
of narrative) and didn't go back.  Taiwan audiences are very smart; if  
they don't want to see a film, no amount of marketing can persuade  
them.  All three versions of THE GRUDGE, and ONE MISSED CALL, were  
distributed by UIP, a major.

Next weekend, 12-14 November, Sai Yoichi's QUILL goes head-to-head with  
THE INCREDIBLES which has been pushed back by one week, although it  
does have extensive previews this weekend.  The little fluffy dog is  
everywhere in Taiwan, in what must be one of the biggest marketing  
campaigns for a Japanese film.  It's handled by a small distributor who  
picked it up before the majors had it on their radars; so I'm hoping it  
makes a lot of money.

Stephen


On Nov 4, 2004, at 4:37 AM, Joseph Murphy wrote:

> There was a more favorable discussion of The Grudge in a NY Times  
> article this weekend by Terrence Rafferty called "Be Somewhat Afraid,"  
> which in general traced what it found to be a trend of diluting the  
> impact of horror with conventions from action and comedy.
>    "the only movie currently serving up an adequate portion of the  
> genre's traditional red meat is Takashi Shimizu's "The Grudge,"  
> <http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/titlelist.html?v_idlist=292156; 
> 301035&inline=nyt_ttl> an English-language remake of his 2000 film,  
> "Ju-On," which is as unnerving a horror movie as I've ever seen."
> Not that long of a discussion, can be found at:
>     
> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/31/movies/31raff.html? 
> pagewanted=2&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1099513933-iwh9RH+hK49HY8goJ5zUeg
> J. Murphy
>
>> Scout Foundas' review of THE GRUDGE just went online (subscription  
>> only): "In its quest to appropriate global filmmaking trends,  
>> Hollywood has honed in on a series of Japanese cult horror pics most  
>> notable for bad acting and pedestrian direction. ... Project might  
>> have been more successful if Shimizu had style and/or atmosphere to  
>> substitute for his canned scares, cardboard compositions and flaccid  
>> cutting."
>> http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117925331?categoryid=31&cs=1
>>
>> Stephen
>>
>>
>