--- description: Spike Lee's "Oldboy" continues a six-decade tradition of Asian movies reshot for Western viewers title: East Meets West: 10 Asian Movies Remade by Hollywood image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a720318e8fd9c13/698a8dcf09208f2164422b45/infernal-affairs.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- ![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a720318e8fd9c13/698a8dcf09208f2164422b45/infernal-affairs.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9) * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) # East Meets West: 10 Asian Movies Remade by Hollywood by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Dec 5, 2013 10:45 AM CUT ![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a720318e8fd9c13/698a8dcf09208f2164422b45/infernal-affairs.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=3:2) Miramax by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Dec 5, 2013 10:45 AM CUT Spike Lee’s “Oldboy” continues a six-decade tradition of Asian movies reshot for Western viewers ## Lost In Translation ![OB_04893.CR2](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4c3b4f33056b196/6998c0af07a30d33b577c572/oldboy1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)
Hardly anyone went to see Spike Lee's new remake of Oldboy (pictured) over the holiday weekend, but it'll have performed a valuable service if it encourages even a few viewers to seek out the original cult classic by South Korean director Park Chan-wook. And then, perhaps, to find Park's other films, and then to seek other Korean cinematic gems.



Hollywood and other Western film industries have been remaking classics of Asian cinema for more than half a century. As the following list shows, it's worth going back to see the originals, not just because they're worthwhile in their own right, but because it's fascinating to see how they'd been transformed from their original cultural context. Here, then are 10 landmark Asian movies that spawned remakes half a world away. gsusman ## Seven Samurai ![Remade as: The Magnificent Seven Akira Kurosawa was an open admirer of John Ford, Hollywood's classic director of Westerns set against epic landscapes. So when John Sturges remade Seven Samurai as a Western, The Magnificent Seven, he was only returning the favor. Kurosawa's tale of a group of freelance samurai who offer their services to protect a poor village beset by bandits plays on typically Japanese themes of honor and self-sacrifice, but it's easy to see how it also works as a Western-style story of lawlessness vs. civilization on the remote frontier. Both the samurai and the gunslingers take their inspiration from an older, wiser , steadier man \(Takashi Shimura here, Yul Brynner in Magnificent\) with an air of manly stoicism and quiet grace. Of course, Sturges has an invaluable ally in Elmer Bernstein's famously rousing instrumental score, while Kurosawa lets his sweeping camera and the lived-in faces of his actors do mo](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe2a15507b14d067/6998c0afe1ba000e0098ce29/seven-samurai.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)
Remade as: The Magnificent Seven



Akira Kurosawa was an open admirer of John Ford, Hollywood's classic director of Westerns set against epic landscapes. So when John Sturges remade Seven Samurai as a Western, The Magnificent Seven, he was only returning the favor. Kurosawa's tale of a group of freelance samurai who offer their services to protect a poor village beset by bandits plays on typically Japanese themes of honor and self-sacrifice, but it's easy to see how it also works as a Western-style story of lawlessness vs. civilization on the remote frontier.



Both the samurai and the gunslingers take their inspiration from an older, wiser , steadier man (Takashi Shimura here, Yul Brynner in Magnificent) with an air of manly stoicism and quiet grace. Of course, Sturges has an invaluable ally in Elmer Bernstein's famously rousing instrumental score, while Kurosawa lets his sweeping camera and the lived-in faces of his actors do most of the work for him. gsusman ## Godzilla ![MCDGODZ EC052](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt12dbd4cfefef6f5d/6998c0b0e1ba00cb1a98ce2d/godzilla.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)
Remade as: Godzilla



The monster's Japanese name, Gojira, is a mash-up of the words for "gorilla" and "whale," as the original monster was supposed to be a combination of those two creatures. But the producers were reportedly inspired by an American movie, the sci-fi scarefest Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, to make it more like a dinosaur.



Hollywood remade the film almost immediately, first as Godzilla: King of the Monsters (in which a few new scenes starring Raymond Burr as an American reporter were inserted into the original Japanese film), and then, four decades later, as a mega-budget disaster movie set in New York instead of Tokyo, with a CGI monster instead of a man in a rubber lizard suit.



Of course, what the American remakes miss, besides the delightfully low-tech special effects, is the special relationship the Japanese developed with Godzilla, the radioactive monster born of the country's unique experience as the only nation ever bombed by nuclear weapons, the monster that, in later movies, became both Japan's destroyer and savior from even worse monsters. gsusman ## Yojimbo ![Remade as: A Fistful of Dollars If Kurosawa's Seven Samurai is about old-school warriors clinging to an archaic tradition of honor, his Yojimbo is about a samurai who redefines that code for his own benefit. In a village where two rival warlords run ragged over the populace, the stranger Sanjuro \(frequent Kurosawa leading man Toshiro Mifune\) plays both sides against each other, though the ronin also finds it in himself to defend the powerless against the powerful, as in Seven Samurai. Here, Kurosawa's inspiration again came from Hollywood, from the moral murk of the Dashiell Hammett proto-noir "The Glass Key." Of course, Yojimbo in turn inspired Italian director Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, with its similarly morally ambiguous hero. So we have Yojimbo to thank, indirectly, for the rise of the spaghetti Western, the "Man With No Name" character of the Dollars trilogy, and for Clint Ea](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3406528d86d44bb7/6998c0b01500fb4c30aa59cd/yojimbocrop.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)
Remade as: A Fistful of Dollars



If Kurosawa's Seven Samurai is about old-school warriors clinging to an archaic tradition of honor, his Yojimbo is about a samurai who redefines that code for his own benefit. In a village where two rival warlords run ragged over the populace, the stranger Sanjuro (frequent Kurosawa leading man Toshiro Mifune) plays both sides against each other, though the ronin also finds it in himself to defend the powerless against the powerful, as in Seven Samurai.



Here, Kurosawa's inspiration again came from Hollywood, from the moral murk of the Dashiell Hammett proto-noir "The Glass Key." Of course, Yojimbo in turn inspired Italian director Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, with its similarly morally ambiguous hero. So we have Yojimbo to thank, indirectly, for the rise of the spaghetti Western, the "Man With No Name" character of the Dollars trilogy, and for Clint Eastwood's movie stardom. gsusman ## Infernal Affairs ![Remade as: The Departed Like Martin Scorsese's Bahhston-ized version, Infernal Affairs tells a complicated story of rival moles – an undercover cop posing as a mobster, and a gangster who's infiltrated the police force – trying to ferret each other out. For all the visual flair and narrative drive Scorsese brought to the story, it's clear from watching Infernal Affairs that he borrowed much of it, down to visual composition of certain scenes, from the original Hong Kong version co-directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. And even if you admire Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon in the U.S. version, you can still appreciate the charisma and haunted face of Tony Leung Chiu-Wai \(as the secret cop\) and the panache of Andy Lau Tak-Wah \(as the secret crook\). Unlike The Departed, the bloody ending of Infernal Affairs didn't stop this enormously popular film from spawning a prequel and a sequel.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09ef1219a74fc524/6998c0b0d32e93e9a6cd65d5/infernal-affairs.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)
Remade as: The Departed



Like Martin Scorsese's Bahhston-ized version, Infernal Affairs tells a complicated story of rival moles – an undercover cop posing as a mobster, and a gangster who's infiltrated the police force – trying to ferret each other out.



For all the visual flair and narrative drive Scorsese brought to the story, it's clear from watching Infernal Affairs that he borrowed much of it, down to visual composition of certain scenes, from the original Hong Kong version co-directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. And even if you admire Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon in the U.S. version, you can still appreciate the charisma and haunted face of Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (as the secret cop) and the panache of Andy Lau Tak-Wah (as the secret crook). Unlike The Departed, the bloody ending of Infernal Affairs didn't stop this enormously popular film from spawning a prequel and a sequel. gsusman ## Bangkok Dangerous ![

Remade as: Bangkok Dangerous

The Hong Kong-based Pang brothers \(Danny and Oxide\) made their writing/directing debut with this 2000 thriller made in Thailand. Here, a veteran hitman named Jo takes under his wing a deaf-mute man named Kong who is a crack marksman but can't hear his own shots. \(Jo's stripper girlfriend, Aom, helps Kong guide his shots.\) Kong also falls in love with a pharmacist, Fom, who helps him feel like less of an outcast, but happy endings are hard to come by in his line of work.

The 2008 remake of the same name, also directed by the Pangs and filmed on location in Bangkok, stars Nicolas Cage as Joe and has little of the subtlety or pathos of the original. \(In the remake, it's the pharmacist who's deaf, and it's Joe she falls for – and fails to redeem.\)

](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5e3825381759bae/6998c0b147fe51212955b031/bangkok-dangerous.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)

Remade as: Bangkok Dangerous

The Hong Kong-based Pang brothers (Danny and Oxide) made their writing/directing debut with this 2000 thriller made in Thailand. Here, a veteran hitman named Jo takes under his wing a deaf-mute man named Kong who is a crack marksman but can't hear his own shots. (Jo's stripper girlfriend, Aom, helps Kong guide his shots.) Kong also falls in love with a pharmacist, Fom, who helps him feel like less of an outcast, but happy endings are hard to come by in his line of work.

The 2008 remake of the same name, also directed by the Pangs and filmed on location in Bangkok, stars Nicolas Cage as Joe and has little of the subtlety or pathos of the original. (In the remake, it's the pharmacist who's deaf, and it's Joe she falls for – and fails to redeem.)

gsusman ## Eat Drink Man Woman ![Yin shi nan nu \(1994 Taiwan/US\) aka Eat Drink Man Woman Directed by Ang Lee Shown: Dinner scene](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa6a8983830ec963/6998c0b147fe5119af55b035/eat-drink-man-woman.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)
Remade as: Tortilla Soup



Ang Lee's final Taiwanese film (and the last film in his "Father Knows Best" trilogy, after Pushing Hands and The Wedding Banquet) features his frequent star, Sihung Lung, as a master Chinese chef who cooks a banquet every Sunday for his three grown daughters, each of whom is chafing against tradition and her father's advice and blundering through her own romantic and lifestyle choices.



Despite this set-up, the movie manages to be full of surprises and twists, as well as heartwarming family moments and dazzling food-porn. (Eat before you watch, or you'll have an insatiable hankering for gourmet Chinese food when the movie's over.) The film got a Mexican-American remake in 2001 as Tortilla Soup, with Hector Elizondo as the chef. gsusman ## Shall We Dance? ![MSDSHWE EC003](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70ac42bb175c305d/6998c0b1c8dcb46693b4f77d/shall-we-dance.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)
Remade as: Shall We Dance?



In Shall We Dance?, Sugiyama is a bland accountant, but his wife hires a detective to shadow him because she suspects he's having an affair. In fact, he's doing something that traditional Japanese culture considers even more humiliating: he's taking Western ballroom dance lessons. He and his fellow misfit classmates begin to blossom and find a sense of belonging as they learn to waltz and foxtrot.



Masayuki Suo's sweet and gentle comedy proves a wry satire on rigid Japanese social roles. (Even the detective becomes a ballroom buff.) Removed from that social context, the American remake (starring Richard Gere as the secret dancer, Susan Sarandon as his wife, and Jennifer Lopez as the dance instructor with dreams of her own) doesn't make much sense, though it does feature some talented actor-dancers. gsusman ## Il Mare ![Remade as: The Lake House In the movie that was remade as The Lake House, retains the basic plot of the original: a lonely woman living in a shoreline house \(named Il Mare, Italian for "the sea"\) and an equally lonely man living two years earlier, discover they can communicate with each other across time by leaving messages in the house's mailbox. They fall in love without ever having met, but their romance is threatened by a looming tragedy that even the magic mailbox may be unable to prevent. Much like the American remake, starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, the South Korean film is atmospheric and melancholy. The original apparently lacks the handful of timeline inconsistencies that nitpickers have found in the remake.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt360904669114826e/6998c0b21500fb89b5aa59d7/il-mare.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)
Remade as: The Lake House



In the movie that was remade as The Lake House, retains the basic plot of the original: a lonely woman living in a shoreline house (named Il Mare, Italian for "the sea") and an equally lonely man living two years earlier, discover they can communicate with each other across time by leaving messages in the house's mailbox. They fall in love without ever having met, but their romance is threatened by a looming tragedy that even the magic mailbox may be unable to prevent.



Much like the American remake, starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, the South Korean film is atmospheric and melancholy. The original apparently lacks the handful of timeline inconsistencies that nitpickers have found in the remake. gsusman ## Antarctica ![MBDANTA FE001](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8b1be8379142055/6998c0b2e1ba00867798ce32/antarctica.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)
Remade as: Eight Below



Based on a true story, Antarctica is a drama about several dogs left behind by a Japanese expedition to the South Pole – and how some of those dogs survived the brutal conditions until the explorers returned 11 months later. (Of course, the film is largely conjecture, since the dogs never gave a satisfactory account of their actions during the explorers' absence.) The film, which boasts a Vangelis soundtrack (he composed it on the heels of his work in Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner) was a big hit in Japan in 1983.



Disney remade it 23 years later as Eight Below, updating the story from the 1950s to the present and casting the late Paul Walker and Bruce Greenwood as the scientists who risk all to rescue the heroic dogs who'd saved them. Disney being Disney, it allowed three times as many dogs to survive. gsusman ## Ringu ![Remade as: The Ring This is the 1998 film that kicked off a wave of atmospheric horror films about haunted children and vengeful spirits, the mini-movement that became known over here as J-horror. Like the American remake, it's about a cursed videotape whose viewers receive a phone call as soon as they finish watching, telling them they will die in exactly seven days. Reporter Reiko, a viewer herself, has seven days to break the curse and to save herself and her son, which she tries to do by tracking down the source of the tape, a ghostly little girl. The Hollywood remake, 2002's The Ring, made a star of Naomi Watts. Ringu director Hideo Nakata even came to America to direct the sequel, The Ring 2. At home, Ringu spawned two sequels and a prequel. The wave of J-horror movies that followed Ringu include Pulse, The Grudge, One Missed Call, and Dark Water — all of which were r](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbaa55497218e7202/6998c0b2a97fc042efa73aef/ringu.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)
Remade as: The Ring



This is the 1998 film that kicked off a wave of atmospheric horror films about haunted children and vengeful spirits, the mini-movement that became known over here as J-horror. Like the American remake, it's about a cursed videotape whose viewers receive a phone call as soon as they finish watching, telling them they will die in exactly seven days. Reporter Reiko, a viewer herself, has seven days to break the curse and to save herself and her son, which she tries to do by tracking down the source of the tape, a ghostly little girl.



The Hollywood remake, 2002's The Ring, made a star of Naomi Watts. Ringu director Hideo Nakata even came to America to direct the sequel, The Ring 2. At home, Ringu spawned two sequels and a prequel. The wave of J-horror movies that followed Ringu include Pulse, The Grudge, One Missed Call, and Dark Water — all of which were remade in America as well. gsusman East Meets West: 10 Asian Movies Remade by Hollywood ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7116002/east-meets-west-10-asian-movies-remade-by-hollywood/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7116002/east-meets-west-10-asian-movies-remade-by-hollywood/"},"headline":"East Meets West: 10 Asian Movies Remade by Hollywood","datePublished":"2013-12-05T10:45:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T05:17:12.076Z","description":"Spike Lee's \"Oldboy\" continues a six-decade tradition of Asian movies reshot for Western viewers","url":"https://time.com/archive/7116002/east-meets-west-10-asian-movies-remade-by-hollywood/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a720318e8fd9c13/698a8dcf09208f2164422b45/infernal-affairs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a720318e8fd9c13/698a8dcf09208f2164422b45/infernal-affairs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Infernal Affairs","caption":"","creditText":"Miramax","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7116002/east-meets-west-10-asian-movies-remade-by-hollywood/","name":"East Meets West: 10 Asian Movies Remade by Hollywood"}}]}] ```