for a rewrite. Crichton then entered disputes with director Philip Kaufman, who asked for five separate rewrites. Crichton also was not in favor of the decision by Kaufman and Joe Roth to cast Wesley Snipes as the protagonist, therefore changing the character's race from Caucasian to African-American. Crichton argued: ”In a movie about U.S.-Japan relations, if you cast someone who’s black, you introduce another aspect because of tension between blacks and Japanese.” Kaufman wound up taking the writing duties, with David Mamet also delivering a draft. Kaufman tried to get a sole screenwriter credit, but the Writer's Guild arbitration decided that his contributions were not enough to deny a credit to Crichton and Backes. Given Kaufman had a tendency for long movies, Fox made him contractually obligated to deliver a two hour length film, with editing delays pushing the film's release date forward. Rising Sun was filmed entirely in Los Angeles, California. Reception Box office Rising Sun was released on 30 July 1993 in 1,510 theaters across the US. It grossed $15,195,941 (24.1% of total gross) on its opening weekend. During its run in theaters, the film grossed $63,179,523 (58.9%) in the US and $44,019,267 (41.1%) overseas for a worldwide total of $107,198,790. The film spent six weeks in the Top 10. Critical response On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 33% approval rating based on 40 reviews, with an average ranking of 5.1/10. On Metacritic, Rising Sun have a rank of 56 out of a 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Owen Gleiberman of the Entertainment Weekly awarded the film with "C+" grade. Richard Schickel of Time magazine wrote "The best seller's passions were misplaced, but in toning them down, the adaptation turns bland". At the time of the film's release, it generated some controversy and protest from Asian-Americans, including Guy Aoki and other representatives of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA), who felt the film demonized Asian people. References External links 1990s English-language films 1990s Japanese-language films 1993 crime thriller films 1990s buddy cop films 1990s mystery films 1990s police procedural films 20th Century Fox films American buddy cop films American business films American crime thriller films American mystery films American police detective films Anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States Films about race and ethnicity Films about suicide Films based on American novels Films based on crime novels Films