Drinks Americas Announces Letter of Intent to Acquire Global Beverages Asia Ltd.(3)

Not every studio is making such personal productions in foreign countries. While Disney is tailoring each "High School Musical" to the local territory (the first two were TV movies made for the Disney Channel; the third took in more than $90 million domestically at the box office and another $160 million internationally), they're still part of a larger franchise. "High School Musical" has already been remade in Spanish for Latin America. Up next: versions for Russia and for China, where instead of playing basketball the boys in the movie practice martial arts.

Warner Brothers went with car chases and explosions for its first Chinese-language remake. Last year's translation of "Cellular," "Bo Chi Tung Wa" ("Connected"), got positive reviews and made $6.5 million at the box office, a decent tally in that growing market.

Paramount is taking "baby steps" in the foreign remake game with the development of a Japanese version of "Ghost," according to Andrew Cripps, its president for international theatrical distribution and marketing. "'Ghost' has a lot of elements that appeal to a Japanese audience: the emotionality, the sentimentality," he said. "Like 'Sideways,' 'Ghost' is a dialogue-driven drama."

The studio has been fielding offers from producers in other countries to remake films like "Trading Places" and "What Women Want," but Mr. Cripps said he is waiting to see how Fox's project goes first. "There's a lot to learn from 'Sideways' for us as well," he said.

Even though studio executives have little idea what will get lost in the translation of these hits, Fox International has five more films — two from the 1950s, two from the 1980s and one from the 1990s — in consideration to be remade in various countries. Mr. Panitch would reveal only one: "Working Girl," which is in the early stages of development for Japan.

Much like "Sideways," that film is an agile mix of comedy, romance and astute cultural observation — in this case about women in the workplace — and it had six Oscar nominations. ("Sideways" had five.) But "Working Girl," which follows a Staten Island secretary's big-business climb in Manhattan, is more of a fairy tale.