Japanese Sleeper Hit ‘One Cut of the Dead’ Heads for English Remake (EXCLUSIVE)

By Patrick Frater

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “One Cut of the Dead,” a micro-budget horror film that last year defied the odds to become one of the biggest hits of the year in Japan, is headed for an English-language remake.

Patrick Cunningham, a Japan-based American producer whose credits include “Martha Marcy May Marlene” and “Starlet,” is behind the venture.

The original film, which depicts the zombie invasion of a low-budget movie shoot, had its debut at the Yubari festival in northern Japan in March of last year and played the following month at the Festival of Far East Film in Udine, Italy.

It received a nominal two-screen commercial release in Japan in June. But, buoyed by positive feedback, it scored more screens and played for several months. By the end of December, its cumulative gross had risen to $26.3 million – nearly 1,000 times its production budget of just $27,000.

“Most U.S. and Western audiences won’t get to see it. It has only a limited release outside Japan and is not being released in the U.S.,” said Cunningham. “That’s such a shame for a film this fun and original.”

Cunningham plans an English-language remake that will shoot in the U.S. on a budget that he describes as “fairly small.” The original film emerged from the Enbu Seminar acting school.

The contrast between the box office success of “” and its minuscule budget added to the social media buzz that sustained the film’s career. Many films in Japan are made with cast and crew who are unpaid. “One Cut” went even further in that some participants actually paid to appear in the movie, regarding it as a school project. Neither they nor the director had a back-end participation.

Further adding to word-of mouth was a suggestion of plagiarism that emerged in August. Director Shinichiro Ueda was accused of borrowing too much of a stage play, “Ghost in the Box,” which had been put on between 2011 and 2014 by theater director Ryoichi Wada.

Cunningham acquired the rights from a partnership of IP creators including Enbu Seminar, Ueda and Wada. “I was only able to do so because I was one of the people who brought them together and helped resolve the conflict,” Cunningham told Variety. “Ueda-san and Wada-san were friends beforehand, had a misunderstanding, and are friends again now.”

“The goal is for as many people as possible to see it,” Cunningham added, explaining that that could mean an indie-style theatrical trajectory or a straight-to-streaming strategy. “We will know more about the direction it will take once we have attached a writer and director.”