While American audiences used to turn to foreign cinema for a taste of something different or a fresh perspective on a familiar subject, that option seems to be disappearing. More and more, foreign directors trying to make a “Hollywood-style” picture are overseeing foreign films which then serve as their audition to enter the American studio system. Where foreign cinema used to influence American filmmakers, it seems the reverse is now happening with mixed results.

While this is far from an absolute trend -- there will always be more obscure foreign fare for the art-house crowd -- the fact remains that options are shrinking. But, putting aside the concerns of the viewer, the question becomes: Is this a good policy for the foreign filmmaker? What about the studios that bring them to America only to saddle them with routine remakes and video game adaptations? Are they getting their money’s worth from this new crop of talent?

By taking a quick look at the recent American debut of a group of foreign filmmakers, patterns emerge of struggles for creative control, poor critical reception, and mostly so-so financial results.

Silent Hill
With a budget estimated at $50 million, Christophe Gans was able to take the popular video game franchise and create a dark, imaginative picture with a nearly impenetrable story that caused Roger Ebert to remark in his review, “Not only can I not describe the plot of this movie, but I have the feeling the last scene reverses half of what I thought I knew (or didn’t know).” While Gans’ was obviously passionate about the project, with a worldwide gross of $97.6 million, the film, while profitable, was far from the blockbuster the studio had anticipated.

The Hills Have Eyes
Alexandre Aja leaped on to the international film radar with his debut, High Tension, a bloody slasher flick that was inspired by the American horror films of the 1970s and ‘80s. While it never broke through to become a mainstream hit, it did gain an instant cult following. Wes Craven brought Aja to America to remake his 1977 cult favorite. The result was an impressive worldwide gross of $67 million on a budget of only $14 million. It seems nobody was more surprised than Aja, telling Film Focus in October 2006, “But on the Hollywood thing, I was really scared going into The Hills Have Eyes about the American system.”

The Invasion
If Aja was scared about working in Hollywood, Oliver Hirschbiegel should have been terrified. While we are not all the way through 2007, The Invasion leads the pack -- along with Evan Almighty -- as one of the biggest flops of the year. Following his Oscar-nominated Downfall, the German director was brought to America by mega-producer Joel Silver to create a new take on Jack Finney’s classic Sci-Fi novel, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Working with a budget conservatively estimated at $80 million, Hirschbiegel found his every move being scrutinized. When his final cut was deemed not exciting enough, he was quickly replaced by V for Vendetta director James McTeigue, who re-shot most of the film. The result? A worldwide gross of only $28.4 million to date.

The Messengers
Hong Kong-born twin brothers, Danny and Oxide Pang used their slick, supernatural thriller The Eye to propel them to the helm of The Messengers, a relatively low-budget production of Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures. The picture wound up a modest hit, but it’s uncertain how much of what was seen on screen was the work of the Pangs. After they left the production, a new director was called in to shoot additional scenes and Raimi supervised the final cut.

The Grudge and The Grudge 2
Takashi Shimizu, the filmmaker behind the original films, directed the American remakes of the popular Ju-on franchise from Japan. Another production of Ghost House Pictures, the first film was a huge hit, taking in a worldwide gross of over $187 million on a budget of only $10 million. Returning to the well two years later, the results were still profitable, but less overwhelming with world tickets sales totaling $70.7 million.

Judging by these filmmakers and their American debuts, what trends do we see?

In the next part of this report, we will take a look at those trends -- both positive and negative -- that are affecting filmmakers new to the Hollywood system.