Sequels and prequels - And all that shit

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Miramax is, oh dear God why, remaking Akira Kurosawa's classic film THE SEVEN SAMURAI, which was remade as the great The Magnificent Seven.

'Samurai' Unleashed Again
By Jonathan Bing

NEW YORK (Variety) - Miramax Films and MGM will co-produce a contemporary retelling of Akira Kurosawa's classic saga of dueling Japanese warlords, "The Seven Samurai." One of the Japanese auteur's most influential films, "Seven Samurai" first got the Hollywood treatment in 1960 when John Sturges remade the picture as a Western, "The Magnificent Seven," with an all-star cast, including Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson.

In the Kurosawa picture, which was nominated for two Oscars (news - web sites), a poor village besieged by marauding bandits hires seven samurai warriors to defend them, offering only handfuls of rice as payment.

Miramax Films co-chairman Harvey Weinstein described "Seven Samurai" as "the mother of all 'guys on a mission' movies."

MGM and Miramax haven't yet determined whether the remake will be set in Asia, the West, or some other contemporary context. MGM will distribute domestically, while Miramax will handle its international release.