[HanCinema's News] Japanese Television Remake of "Midnight Runners" Begins Airing
By William Schwartz | Published on
On June 27th the Japanese television version of "Midnight Runners" begin airing on Nippon TV. The drama stars one idol from the J-Pop group Sexy Zone and another idol from the J-Pop group King & Prince in the leading roles as a pair of police academy recruits who work to solve cases in spite of their obvious clumsy inexperience.
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The remake was greenlit based on the popularity of the original "Midnight Runners" in the Japanese market. The summer 2017 comedy film starred Park Seo-joon and Kang Ha-neul in the leading roles and proved a surprise hit, grossing over 5.65 million admissions at the box office. The Japanese remake eschews the action movie format for a television police procedural, which is debatedly a more intuitive way to utilize the basic premise.
Written by William Schwartz
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"Midnight Runners" is directed by Kim Joo-hwan, and features Park Seo-joon, Kang Ha-neul, Sung Dong-il, Park Ha-sun, Ko Jun, Lee Ho-jung. Release date in Korea: 2017/08/09.
William Schwartz
Staff writer. Has been writing articles for HanCinema since 2012, having lived in South Korea from 2011 to 2021. He is currently located in the Portland metropolitan area. William Schwartz can be contacted via william@hancinema.net, and is open to requests for content in future articles.