Akira Kurosawa's 1958 film The Hidden Fortress is often said to be the inspiration for Star Wars and it is about to be remade in Japan. They've been hit by the Hollywood box office formula for making money.

The film seems to be undergoing a few changes to make it seem less like the Star Wars franchise that is now more widely known, but is hoped to be completed by the end of the year.

I know little about Akira Kurosawa's film, although I've heard it often said that The Hidden Fortress is the model for the first Star Wars, and indeed the franchise.

The story from Variety tells us about the cast that Director Shinji Higuchi has assembled.

Hiroshi Abe will play the role of a general taking a Princess through enemy territory, Masami Nagasawa plays the Princess, and the two peasants - believed to be the inspiration for C-3PO and R2-D2 -are being combined into one character to be played by Jun Matsumoto.

It sounds like the film is in for a bit of a rework, but it isn't going to be set in space. I wonder if we will be less against this remake because it's outside of Hollywood? Does that make it any more acceptable?