Scifi Studios Hollywood - New Line Ready for Battle

New Line has purchased remake rights to “Battle Royale,” the controversial Japanese science fiction film that was released in 2000. Neal Moritz and Roy Lee will produce for the studio.

The original film and its 2003 Sequel “Battle Royale II – Requiem” caused a stir in Japan because of the intense amount of violence by teenagers depicted in the film. The film takes place in the future during a time of tremendous civil unrest, bordering on the apocalypse. Schools are completely overrun with violence, and the government decides to combat the problem by organizing a Battle Royale each year. This Battle Royale involves one class of students, who are chosen at random, and who are placed on an island in a battle for survival against each other.

Mortiz, who runs the Sony-based Original Films production company, will soon release “The Gridiron Gang” for Sony, and “Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” for Universal. Lee, who runs Vertigo Entertainment at Universal, has produced “The Ring,” “The Ring Two,” and “The Grudge 2.”