Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Apr 22, 2015 9:52:46 GMT -6
variety.com/2015/tv/asia/hulu-japan-remake-1201477193/
Hulu Japan, the localized version of the online video service, is to produce a Japanese version of German drama format “The Last Cop.” The production represents Hulu Japan’s first step into original content production.
Remake rights were acquired by Nippon TV, parent company of Hulu Japan, from Germany’s Red Arrow International. The deal was completed at this month’s MIP-TV market in Cannes.
The new version will star Toshiaki Karasawa as a detective who wakes in 2015 after being in a coma for 30 years. Hulu Japan and Nippon TV will screen the retread from this summer. Hulu Japan will begin airing the first season of the original German show with immediate effect.
“This is an important new phase for Hulu, providing our users with an even greater range of entertainment content,“ said Kazufumi Nagasawa, chief content officer of HJ Holdings, the Nippon TV subsidiary that controls Hulu Japan. “We are planning to premier more foreign content on our service and we look forward to producing more original remakes of foreign shows and collaborating with the terrestrial broadcast business to maximize each show’s value.”
“The Last Cop” is produced by ITV Studios Germany, and is SAT.1 Germany’s most successful crime series. It is distributed by Red Arrow International as both a scripted format and a finished program.
U.S. video group, Hulu launched its service in Japan in September 2011. Nippon TV acquired Hulu’s Japan business in April 2014. The unit now has over one million subscribers, paying a monthly fee of JPY933 plus taxes. It boasts a library of 19,000
films, dramas, anime and shorts.
“There are a number of cultural reasons why it has proved difficult in the past to remake foreign dramas in Japan. However, remakes provide a great opportunity to bring something new to Japanese audiences,” said Hiroyuki Ueno, producer/manager, programming division of Nippon TV.
Hulu Japan, the localized version of the online video service, is to produce a Japanese version of German drama format “The Last Cop.” The production represents Hulu Japan’s first step into original content production.
Remake rights were acquired by Nippon TV, parent company of Hulu Japan, from Germany’s Red Arrow International. The deal was completed at this month’s MIP-TV market in Cannes.
The new version will star Toshiaki Karasawa as a detective who wakes in 2015 after being in a coma for 30 years. Hulu Japan and Nippon TV will screen the retread from this summer. Hulu Japan will begin airing the first season of the original German show with immediate effect.
“This is an important new phase for Hulu, providing our users with an even greater range of entertainment content,“ said Kazufumi Nagasawa, chief content officer of HJ Holdings, the Nippon TV subsidiary that controls Hulu Japan. “We are planning to premier more foreign content on our service and we look forward to producing more original remakes of foreign shows and collaborating with the terrestrial broadcast business to maximize each show’s value.”
“The Last Cop” is produced by ITV Studios Germany, and is SAT.1 Germany’s most successful crime series. It is distributed by Red Arrow International as both a scripted format and a finished program.
U.S. video group, Hulu launched its service in Japan in September 2011. Nippon TV acquired Hulu’s Japan business in April 2014. The unit now has over one million subscribers, paying a monthly fee of JPY933 plus taxes. It boasts a library of 19,000
films, dramas, anime and shorts.
“There are a number of cultural reasons why it has proved difficult in the past to remake foreign dramas in Japan. However, remakes provide a great opportunity to bring something new to Japanese audiences,” said Hiroyuki Ueno, producer/manager, programming division of Nippon TV.