“Meteor Garden” Gets Another Remake
The Chinese-language entertainment industry is following Hollywood’s formula of rebooting old classics.
According to the Taiwanese media, producer Angie Chai (柴智屏), perhaps best known for producing 2001’s smash hit Meteor Garden <流星花園>—which is also based on the Japanese shōjo manga series Hana Yori Dango <花樣男子>—will be getting a brand new remake this year.
The studios will be investing NT$720 million in this updated version—nearly 30 times more than the money used to produce the original 2001 series. The new adaptation has already obtained permission from the original Japanese author, Yōko Kamio (神尾葉子).
2001’s Meteor Garden, filmed over 16 years ago, popularized Taiwanese television adaptations of manga series, and kickstarted a wave of idol drama adaptations in Asia. Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) portrayed the main lead Dong Shancai (based on the character Makino Tsukushi, while then-newcomers Jerry Yan (言承旭), Vic Chou (周渝民), Ken Chu (朱孝天), and Vanness Wu (吳建豪) starred as the F4. As F4, the four leading men went on to become one of the most successful boy bands in Asia.
Meteor Garden spawned a supplementary mini-series Meteor Rain <流星雨> in 2001, and an official sequel, titled Meteor Garden II <流星花園II>, the following year.
According to Angie Chai, the new remake will be more faithful to the original story of the manga, and will be longer than the original series, at 48 episodes. Meteor Garden had only 27 episodes, and thus many stories from the original manga had to be cut.
The new Meteor Garden will be a co-production with Mainland China. A cast has not been finalized yet, but filming is expected to begin in August 2017 in Shanghai.
Hana Yori Dango has been officially adapted to numerous times on television. Following CTS’s version in 2001, Japan’s TBS adapted its own version in 2005, followed by a sequel in 2007 and a film in 2008. South Korea’s KBS adapted the manga, with the title Boys Over Flowers, in 2009.
Source: Sohu.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
Ahhh noooo! Why! I loved Meteor Garden (I think part of the reason is cus it’s not completely unrealistic and immature, unlike the manga.) I hope this new adaptation will still retain some of the original’s magic and not be like every other overly pretentious MG remake out there
@coralie Love MG myself! Can’t say the same for MG 2 though. I actually like the Japanese Hana Yori Dango version the most. Not a fan of the Korean one and have not watch the China one.
@happybi i couldn’t watch the japanese version because of the male lead(s). They were so boyish looking, it was like watching kids in a drama. The Korean one was an absolute disaster; had none of the charm that made its predecessors famous. The Chinese one was overly pretentious.
None of them held a candle to the original MG (IMO). It’s hard to pinpoint a single factor why it was so charming though. Is it the soft, romantic cinematography? Is it the right soundtrack? Is it the (almost) perfect cast? Is it the focused direction? I can’t really gauge the correct reason.
@coralie ehhehehheh I LOVE MatsuJun! I thought he was great as Domyouji and Oguri was brilliant as Hanazawa. But the best was Inoue Mao. She was the prefect Makino. I didn’t like the Korean one as I couldn’t stand the girl. the guys was OK. I am not a big LMH fan but Kim Bum was cute.
MG was perfect because it was the first and the OST was awesome. But man did it ruin it for me in part 2. So disappointed.
@coralie
i didn’t like the japanese one b/c none of the boys i thought was cute but i watched it anyway b/c i liked the story and it was short. the korean one’s got the hottest boys. i’ve alway love the taiwanese MG b/c it was the original and the boys were cute. ddin’t watch china’s b/c the make up back then in china was so-so
Audition will be fierce for this production as this franchise has been a proven star maker. Just look at the original F4 boys from the original Taiwan production, Lee Ming Ho from the Korean production and Zhang Han from the Mainland production.