Announcement Trailer For ‘The Ring vs. The Grudge’ Released

With movies like Batman v Superman which will be released next month and Godzilla Vs. King Kong which was announced recently, faceoff movies are nothing new. But one can’t pretend it isn’t shocking when The Ring and The Grudge, two of the most lucrative horror franchises ever, come together in a trailer for Japanese studio Kadokawa’s current project: Sadako vs. Kayako, translated into their English movie titles, The Ring vs. The Grudge. 

The project is inspired by a fan trailer which had been intended as an April Fool’s Day joke. The fan trailer went viral and convinced the Japanese studio that there was great demand for a project like this.

The Ring‘s Sadako was murdered and thrown in a well as a child, returning and killing people through video tapes 30 years later. Kayako from The Grudge was also murdered young and returns because of it, although her form of attack is from crawling around creaky ceilings. It is unclear how exactly this faceoff will work, but the trailer is quite chilling. Fans will recognize the original house from The Grudge as well as another cursed video tape and Sadako’s well.

Both movies are no stranger to sequels. The Ring began as a Japanese movie in 1998. The success of the film spawn a DreamWork’s version of The Ring in 2002, with a sequel The Ring 2 in 2005. The Ring is even expecting a third installment to be released in October of this year called, Rings. Kayako was first seen in the Japanese movie Ju-On: The Grudge in 2002. From this came a Japanese sequel as well as three movies in English between 2004 and 2009.

Koji Shiraishi is the director, with Mizuki Yamamoto as the heroine between the malevolent spirits. The film will hit theaters in Japan this June. There has been no word yet on international release dates or a Hollywood remake which is sure to come.