Return from the River Kwai is a 1989 British film directed by Andrew McLaglen and starring Edward Fox, Chris Penn and Timothy Bottoms.

[3] It is not a sequel to The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), though it also deals with POWs of the Japanese in World War II.

The film is based on a 1979 factual book with the same name about a 1944 Japanese prisoner transport of 2,217 British and Australian POWs, who had been working as forced labour on the Burma Railway, building the bridge over the River Kwai.

Columbia claimed that this was because the estate of Sam Spiegel had threatened legal action over the film's title, thus breaching the contract.

)[2] Unger says he suggested the name "River Kwai" be translated into Thai ("Kwae Noi") and Tri-Star agreed, then changed their mind.

Unger claims Tri-Star's decision not to distribute was motivated by the film's anti-Japanese content, which he says offended Sony, its parent company.

"[2] Unger says the decision cost him a minimum of $5 million in earnings from cable, video and cinema in the US market, and meant the film was unprofitable.

Columbia argued that "if you use a name and it becomes famous you are able to use it in a certain area of commerce, such as the exclusive use of River Kwai in the title of a film.