Columbia Pictures and Neal H. Moritz’s Original Film are developing an Americanized remake of BIG MAN JAPAN (known in its native Japanese as DAINIPPONJIN). CLASH OF THE TITANS scribes Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi are penning the script.
Original director Hitoshi Matsumoto will be on board in some capacity as well.The redux will be produced under a different title, unsurprisingly, but it has not yet been revealed. The 2007 sci-fi/horror/comedy is co-written by Matsumoto and Mitsuyoshi Takasu. Here is the original plot:
A middle-aged slacker living in a rundown, graffiti-ridden slum, Daisato’s job involves being shocked by bolts of electricity that transform him into a stocky, stick-wielding giant several stories high who is entrusted with defending Japan from a host of bizarre monsters. But while his predecessors were national heroes, he is a pariah among the citizens he protects, who bitterly complain about the noise and destruction of property he causes. And Daisato has his own problems – an agent insistent on branding him with sponsor advertisements, an Alzheimer-afflicted grandfather who transforms into a giant in dirty underwear, and a family who is embarrassed by his often cowardly exploits. A wickedly deadpan spin on the giant Japanese superhero, BIG MAN JAPAN is an outrageous portrait of a pathetic but truly unique hero.