Weinstein Co. Makes a Deal For Nightmare Detective
Filed under: Foreign Language, Horror, Thrillers, Deals, Distribution, The Weinstein Co., Weinstein Brothers, Cinematical Indie
Back when the Weinstein brothers were still the "Kings" of Miramax, they garnered the reputation of being able to pick some of the most successful foreign films for North American distribution. As a result, they managed to subsequently release some of the most successful foreign films of the last decade, including Life is Beautiful and Princess Mononoke. They might not be making deals for Miramax anymore, but The Weinstein Co. is sticking to the tradition of bringing international films to domestic audiences.The Hollywood Reporter announced that TWC have bought the Japanese thriller Nightmare Detective for US and UK distribution. Nightmare Detective was written and directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, and stars Ryuhei Matsuda and Japanese Pop singer hitomi. The story centers on a female detective investigating two seemingly unrelated suicides. The spooky factor kicks in when there is one strange detail both deaths have in common -- and that's that the victims each dialed 0 on their cell phones moments before their death.
A deal was struck between Easternlight Films and TWC (who have had a long-standing relationship with each other), and negotiations started not long after the film screened at the Rome film festival. The film hasn't even opened in Japan yet, but is slated for a January release. No word yet on when the US release date will be, but I doubt TWC will waste much time.
[via ComingSoon.net]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-14-2006 @ 4:53AM
Peter said...
Doubt you should. TWC will waste as much time as possible before releasing the film in any capacity - just as they do with all of the Asian films they acquire.
They stockpile and hold simply so no other distributor can release the film. And then when another distributor strikes the vein with another, similar film, they'll finally release the film in as barebones a method as possible. On top of that, they'll muscle their way into DVD sales and regions, forcing websites that previously would have shipped the Region 3 DVDs of films internationally to put a ban on US shipping because TWC owns the R1 DVD rights. Which causes another lengthy waiting period.
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12-14-2006 @ 10:17AM
gadlaw said...
I love asian movies and music. Must have been those years living in Japan. Japanese, Chinese, Hong Kong and Korean entertainment has certainly blossomed. For asian movies the idea of starring a young pop star is part of the charm and in fact their movie stars and music stars are often the same folks. The problem for anyone who likes these movies and music is that American distribution is glacial at best. It's a whole lot better than it used to be probably because the audience is growning. Personally I shop yesasia.com for movies, music and even tv shows. Director Feng Xiaogang's The Banquet is out now on video which has the lovely Zhang Ziyi starring. Oh yes, there is also Suncoast, a store usually found in Malls which carries the best selection of asian movies I've found. With the smaller amount of available information about asian movies you can walk in and thumb through their selection and be surprised by something that looks good which you had no idea was out. I'm always looking for that new Stephen Chow movie of Shaolin Soccer fame or perhaps there might be a new release of old Gordon Liu movies. It's always fun looking. I'll be looking for the Japanese movie, Nightmare Detective as well. Won't be holding my breath or anything but part of the fun is in waiting.
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