Scaling up? Remaking Kurosawa’s The Three Villains of the Hidden Fortress

Abstract

What accounts for the huge success of the Star Wars franchise and conversely also for the failure of some attempts at replicating its achievement? This article argues that focusing on four concepts – making things right, scalar replication, the transcultural and transnational – can help us to understand why the 50th anniversary remake of Kurosawa Akira’s Kakushitoride no Sanakunin (The Three Villains of the Hidden Fortress, 1958) was not a success. There are various ways in which Kakushitoride no Sanakunin, The Last Princess (The Hidden Fortress, The Last Princess, Higuchi Shinji, 2008) works to answer questions thrown up by the original – to make things right – as well as a clear attempt at scalar replication. Moreover, this remake endeavored to capture the magnitude not just of the original but also of Star Wars IV: A New Hope – which had long acknowledged Kurosawa’s influence – and its sequels. It clearly aimed to produce, if not a franchise, then at least a sequel. The poor box office takings in Japan and the few international distribution deals for Higuchi’s remake reveal just how tough it can be to successfully translate and transmute a narrative, as well as how difficult it can be to create an economically successful and thus transnational franchise series.