Kadokawa Pictures has confirmed sales of SamuraiCommando Mission 1549 - a science fiction fantasy about aJapaneseSelf-Defence Forcesunit time-travelling back to the days ofthe samurai - to 31 international territories. This breaks a modern-day recordfor a domestic live-action film held by Hideo Nakata's Ringu, with 30.

The film is scheduled for theatricalrelease in the US, UK, Germany, Russia, Uruguay, Hong Kong, South Korea,Taiwan, Singapore and Mexico by the end of the year.

To service this booming overseas market,Kadokawa is commissioning a "Hollywood version" of the film, with Jennie LewTugend, whose credits include three Lethal Weapon films and LocalBoys, as producer. The new, re-edited version will feature deleted scenes,new CG cuts, and a new, louder soundtrack.

In some territories distributors maychose to release both the Japanese and international versions, but preciserelease plans have yet to be decided.

Directed by Masaaki Tezuka and starringYosuke Eguchi, Samurai Commando Mission 1549 is a loose remake of a 1979film by Kosei Saito. Since itsJapanese opening on June 1, the film hasbeen performing strongly, ranking number three in nine major cities in itssecond week on release, behind Batman Begins and local smash TrainMan.

Kadokawa has reported offers from morethan 40 territories for Samurai Commando and closing deals for 31 ofthem. This, the company claims, is the highest total since Japanese salescompanies starting keeping reliable records on deal figures a decade ago.