Twentieth Century Fox has signed a three-year first look deal with Japanese horror film producer Taka Ichise.  Taka has produced over 50 genre features in Japan including Ju-On and Ju-On 2, which have been re-made in the U.S. as The Grudge, which starred Sarah Michelle Gellar and earned over $110 million domestically, and The Grudge 2, which will be released on October 13th.  Taka also produced the 1998 Japanese hit Ringu, which was remade here as The Ring and grossed $128 million, as well as Honogurai Mizu No Soko Kara -- remade and released in the U.S. as Dark Water.  The strong track record of these J-horror projects in the U.S. has led to a growing Japanese influence on the popular horror film genre -- and to Taka's newly announced deal with Fox.

Even before the announcement of his deal with Fox the Japanese horror maven was up to his eyeballs in Hollywood projects -- he is currently developing The Entity at Fox Searchlight with Hideo Nakata (Ringu) set to direct.  Also in development are an untitled horror project at Paramount with director Takashi Shimizu (Ju-On) and remakes of two more of his Japanese horror films Infection (New Line) and Premonition (Vertigo Entertainment) as well as a remake of Creepshow for Warner Brothers.