A Japanese cult hit about the man at the head of the Department of Monster Prevention is getting remade right here in the good ol' U.S. of A.
Columbia Pictures has secured the rights to a remake and sequel of "Big Man Japan," according to a press release that just hit the in-box. Here's the synopsis of the film:
Set in a world where monsters wreak havoc, there’s one man who can protect the citizenry: Big Man Japan, who runs the Department of Monster Prevention. Using electricity, he can grow to be 10 stories tall and fight off the most menacing of monsters. The problem is that he’s not very good at his job and often causes as much damage as he prevents. The people believe he’s a joke – and not nearly as good at the job as his father and grandfather were before he took over the family business.
And here's the delightfully bananas trailer for the Japanese original:
If they retain just 10 percent of the demented glee of the original, things should be OK, but the film is being produced by Neal Moritz ("The Green Hornet," "I Am Legend, "XXX," "Made of Honor"), and adapted by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, who were most recently responsible for "Clash of the Titans," so the full crazy seems unlikely.