On April 17, 2025, the film and television website Deadline revealed that Sony Pictures has obtained the adaptation rights for the domestic high-scoring TV series The Bad Kids. The series will be jointly produced by Sony Pictures Television, Original Film, the production company of Neil H. Moritz, the producer of the Fast and Furious series, and iQiyi. Marco Ramirez, the gold medal screenwriter who has written the Netflix version of Daredevil and The Defenders, will serve as the operator, screenwriter of the first episode and executive producer.
"The Bad Kids" directed by Xin Shuang is adapted from Zijin Chen's mystery novel "Bad Kids". It tells the story of three children from a coastal town who accidentally recorded a murder while visiting a scenic spot. The confusing case entangled several families and led them to an unpredictable future. The drama premiered on iQiyi's Misty Theater in 2020, with a Douban score of 8.8 (1.22 million people rated it).
Poster of "The Hidden Corner"
In 2023, a Japanese production company has adapted Zijin Chen's original novel "Bad Kids" and the drama version "The Hidden Corner" into the Japanese film "Gold Boy". Okada Masaki plays Dongsheng, and the three boys are played by Hamura Jinsei, Hoshino Anna, and Maeide Yoshi. Directed by Kaneko Shusuke and written by Minato Takehiko.
Poster of "Golden Boys"
It has always been rare for domestic film and television works to be adapted and remade into American film and television works. In 2023, Hollywood Sony Pictures announced that it had purchased the English remake rights of "Hello, Li Huanying", tentatively titled "Hi, Mom". Jia Ling will serve as executive producer, and the script is written by female screenwriter Laura Kosann, and is currently in the early development stage.
Before that, the classic Hong Kong movie "Infernal Affairs" was remade into the American movie "The Departed", directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo Dicaprio, Matt Damon and others. The story background was transplanted to Boston. Although the plot is different from the original, the core undercover elements are retained. The film won four awards including the Best Picture at the 79th Academy Awards. This is also an example of a successful adaptation.
Poster of "Infernal Affairs"
Previously, although Netflix bought the copyright of the novel "The Three-Body Problem" and adapted it into a TV series, it is generally more common in Southeast Asia to adapt and remake domestic dramas, and it is the first time that a domestic drama is remade into an American drama. I believe that with the improvement of the quality of Chinese film and television dramas and the deepening of international film and television cultural exchanges, more elements or stories of domestic film and television dramas will be "reversely exported" to American dramas in the future.
