Shutter clicks for remake

Just as I suspected when I first saw it, the slick Shutter is up for a remake, according to ThaiCinema.org.

New Regency has purchased the remake rights for Shutter. Gmm Tai Hub, the local company who owns the rights, has not disclosed a figure but it is believed to be the highest ever in Thai cinema for remake rights.

Shutter took almost US$2,750,000 in the local market and became a hit in several territories including Malaysia and Singapore. Penned by two first-time filmmakers, Pakpoom Wongpoom and Banjong Pisanthanakul, the story follows a photographer who regularly notices strange shadows and light reflections in his pictures. This phenomenon is widely known in the country and has often been reported in Thai newspapers, especially in the last decade and even in the aftermath of the recent Tsunami disaster.

Meanwhile, Pen-ek Ratanaruang's 6ixtynin9 is being given the remake treatment as well. Before this happens, I beseech you, watch the original.

ThaiCinema.org also notes that up until now, the only Thai film for which the remake rights had been confirmed as sold was Saving Private Tootsie, which attracted Distant Horizon with its humorous story about a troop of military soldiers trying to rescue a group of transvestites from the battlefront. No word on what happened to that project.

And the Pang Brothers' The Eye was picked up for remake by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner after the Pusan International Film Festival in 2002. According to Twitch, the director of the Hollywood version is none other than Hideo Nakata, the guy who got this whole wave of Asian horror started with Ringu, which was remade into The Ring for Hollywood and he directed the sequel, The Ring 2.

(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)