Indonesian Action Flick ‘The Raid’ Already Being Eyed For A Remake

Less than a week ago, we brought you a brand new trailer for an action-packed film out of Indonesia called The Raid about a SWAT group that has to make their way to the top of a crime-riddled apartment building. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones blown away by what the trailer had to offer, as Screen Gems is already vying to remake the film here in the states.

Since the film made so many waves at the Toronto International Film Festival, and it already had a distributor going into the fest, Screen Gems’ only reasonable plan was to remake the film for American audiences. Here’s what THR had to report.

Screen Gems is in negotiations on a remake, a move made possible for the label since sister arm Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions picked up North American distribution rights to the film during the Cannes Film Festival. The initial deal called for Sony to have an exclusive negotiating period and right of refusal on a remake in its deal with XYZ Films, the makers of the original.

So it seems that the new recourse isn’t to acquire films so that a wider audience can be privy to the art, but to remake it with young up-and-comers that will likely bring a completely different (possibly terrible) take on the film before we, the frustrated audience members, get to even see the original.

While the film is only in negotiations, the Americanized Old Boy is getting pushed through, so you can expect this film to ride on that project’s back until they both have Nic Cage starring in them and open to an audience of $15 million.