Pulse, 2006, Kristen Bell, Ian Somerhalder, Christina Milian
Pulse is an American film released on August 11, 2006, based on the 2001 Japanese horror film Kairo directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. It stars Kristen Bell, Ian Somerhalder, and Christina Milian. The Weinstein Company distributed the film in the United States through its Dimension Films label. Neo Art & Logic produced the film and Jim Sonzero directed the script written by Wes Craven and Ray Wright. The film's release date was originally March 3rd, but was ultimately moved to August 11.
The teaser trailer for Pulse actually features footage from the original Japanese film, Kairo. One shot in particular features a large falling military plane crashing into a building. The plane crash sequence was entirely remade for the U.S. release, and features a passenger plane crashing on top of a building instead of a military plane. Also, in several versions of the trailer, it shows a man jumping off a large factory tower, but this scene only appeared in the unrated DVD version of the film, as an example of the many suicides. There is a dream sequence where Mattie is talking to Josh on top of a tower. The unrated 90-minute DVD version came out on December 5, along with the PG-13 fullscreen version.
This film is different from the original in many ways. The Japanese original focuses on society and questions about both suicide and the end of the world, specifically the belief that death and the afterlife are nothing but eternal loneliness. The American remake's focus is technology and bringing the dead back through a new form of communication, focusing on the phenomenon of Instrumental TransCommunication. It has little plot relation to the original movie, instead creating its own story and using scare elements of its original.
The film grossed an estimated $8,203,822 in its opening weekend (August 11-13, 2006) in the United States and Canada. At its close on October 12, 2006 the film had grossed a total of $20,264,536 domestically. Foreign box office was $7,643,127, for a worldwide take of $27,907,563, as compared to a production budget of approximately $20,500,000. As a DVD rental the film has grossed another $25.01 million in revenue.Wikipedia
