Screen Gems Acquires Remake Rights for Gareth Evans’ Indonesian Action Movie THE RAID

There was a lot of buzz for The Raid at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, eventually earning it the Cadillac People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award. The original Indonesian film by director Gareth Evans (Merantau) has had its domestic distribution rights picked up by Sony Pictures Worldwide. It was assumed that sister company Screen Gems would pursue the rights to the remake and, for once, assumptions have proven correct.

Screen Gems has officially acquired the remake rights for The Raid, an action movie that tells the story of an elite SWAT team that gets pinned down in a tenement building controlled by a dangerous drug lord. On his side are two vicious martial arts experts, his own personal militia and a vast assortment of weapons. The SWAT team has only their wits, their weapons and the will to survive The Raid. Hit the jump to check out the original trailer.

Watch this awesome trailer below and then try and tell me you’re not the least bit excited:

Here’s the official synopsis for The Raid:

In the heart of Jakarta lies a rundown apart¬ment infested with druggies and drifters. It’s ruled by a ruthless drug lord who uses the tenement to shelter his junkie customers, pushers, enforcers and brutal killers. The apartment block is considered untouch¬able by even the bravest of police—until one early morning when, cloaked under dawn’s dark¬ness, an elite SWAT team, led by officer Rama (Uwais), raids the peril-filled structure.  As Rama’s squad races between the maze of rooms and floors, encountering a barrage of gunfire, machetes, and ruthless hand-to-hand combat around every corner, the stakes get higher and higher building to an explosive crescendo and an ultimate battle.