Columbia Pictures has picked up the rights to remake the 2007 Japanese film Big Man Japan in a deal which also gave the studio sequel rights. Neal H Moritz will develop and produce the film through his Original Film banner. Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (Clash of the Titans) have been tapped to write the script.
Per the press release: “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.”
The original film was written and directed by Hitoshi Matsumoto. The cast includes Riki Takeuchi, Ua, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Haruka Unabara, and Itsuji Itao. Matsumoto stars as Masaru Daisatô / Dai-Nihonjin.
