Despite producer Toeis reluctance to license the blood-soaked original to any North American studio for fear of cuts, New Line was able to obtain the remake rights to worldwide Japanese cult hit, BATTLE ROYALE, according to VARIETY. Neal Moritz and Roy Lee are set to produce.
Produced by Toei and released in 2000, the controversial film is set in a near future where schools are overrun by uncontrolled violence. In an effort to reign in their unruly children, the Japanese government organizes an annual Battle Royale, where the students of a randomly picked school class are placed on an island and forced to kill each other for their own survival.
Moritz's Sony-based Original company has produced Sony's upcoming THE GRIDIRON GANG and Universal's THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT. Lee's Universal-based Vertigo Ent. is behind horror remakes THE RING, THE RING TWO and THE GRUDGE 2.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
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