The original movie had the Russians doing most of the damage and the Cubans controlling the area that the Wolverines battled. In this movie it could be the Chinese and the North Koreans.
The remake was announced in May 2008 and went into production in September 2009. The film was originally scheduled to be released on November 24, 2010, but was shelved due to
MGM's
financial troubles.
The invading army was changed from Chinese to North Korean in post-production. FilmDistrict picked up the U.S. distribution rights in September 2011 and set a November 21, 2012 release date.
In June 2010, release of the film was delayed due to
MGM’s financial difficulties. The delay came amid growing controversy in China after excerpts of the script were leaked on the website
The Awl. The film drew sharp criticism from the
Global Times, one of the leading Chinese state-run newspapers, with headlines such as "U.S. reshoots Cold War movie to demonize China" and "American movie plants hostile seeds against China". One of the articles stated: "China can still feel U.S. distrust and fear, especially among its people. Americans' suspicions about China are the best ground for the hawks to disseminate fear and doubt, which is the biggest concern with the movie,
Red Dawn".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dawn_(2012_film)#cite_note-13
In March 2011, the
Los Angeles Times reported that MGM changed the villains in its
Red Dawn remake from Chinese to North Korean in order to maintain access to China's lucrative box office. The changes reportedly cost less than $1 million and involve changing an opening sequence summarizing the story's fictional backdrop, re-editing two scenes and using digital technology to transform many Chinese symbols to Korean.
The changes will not eliminate all references to China though will give North Korea a much larger role in the coalition that invades the U.S. Producer Trip Vinson stated, "We were initially very reluctant to make any changes, but after careful consideration we constructed a way to make a scarier, smarter and more dangerous 'Red Dawn' that we believe improves the movie".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dawn_(2012_film)#cite_note-LA_Times-16
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dawn_(2012_film)