Shudder, the horror specialty streaming service of AMC Networks, has acquired all rights in North America to the hit Japanese zombie comedy “One Cut of the Dead.” The company said that it had also licensed rights to the film for Australia and New Zealand, where it plans to launch later this year.
Made for $27,000, the film became a box office sensation in Japan following its release in two Tokyo theaters in June of last year. It has since earned more than $30 million or 1,000 times its budget.
Shudder negotiated the deal with Adam Torel, whose production and distribution company Third Window Films released the film theatrically in the U.K. and on English-subtitled DVDs. Torel was representing Koji Ichihashi, the president of Enbu Seminar, the Tokyo film school that backed and produced “One Cut.”
In March, Ichihashi told Variety that Enbu was working towards an English-language remake of the film with a new company involving “One Cut” co-creator Ryuichi Wada, Tokyo-based U.S. producer Patrick Cunningham, lawyer Ted Johnson and actor Takuro Kurai.
The film has screened at more than 100 festivals around the world, beginning with Japan’s Yubari festival in March 2018 and the Far East Film Festival in Italy in April last year.