It’s difficult not to think this has been announced just so Ghost House doesn’t lose the remake rights, but Bloody Disgusting reports that Sam Raimi’s company and Mandate Pictures are joining forces for another remake of The Grudge. No, we don’t know why they’re bothering either. The original was an okay but over-rated J-horror entry, which was turned into a pretty rubbish series of American film, so goodness knows why they’d think we’d want another reboot.
The franchise started with director Takashi Shimizu’s Ju-On, which was spawned after two straight-to-video releases in Japan. Takashi Shimizu also directed the Japanese sequel Ju-on 2 and then the American remake The Grudge in 2004, along with its sequel, The Grudge 2, in 2006. The Grudge 3 was released straight to video in 2009, with Toby Wilkins at the helm. Over in Japan the same year, the series continued with Ju-On: White Ghost / Black Ghost.
It isn’t known if Takashi Shimizu will return to direct this new remake (hopefully not). It is also unclear if Ghost House and Mandate are eyeing a theatrical release or if it will go straight-to-video. The latter is quite possible if this is more about hanging onto the rights than anything else.