Remake Remake Fucking Remake

[MacGuffin]

Universal bringing back 'The Thing'
Van Heijningen to direct horror film
Source: Variety

Universal will add a new chapter to "The Thing," lining up another take on the paranoid horror classic most recently brought to the screen by John Carpenter in 1982.

Studio has set "Battlestar Galactica" exec producer Ron Moore to write the script and commercials director Matthijs Van Heijningen to direct the re-imagining.

New project borrows heavily from the John W. Campbell Jr. short story "Who Goes There," the basis of the Carpenter film and 1951 Howard Hawks original "The Thing From Another World."

It is set in a Norwegian camp and chronicles how the shape-shifting alien was first discovered and overcame the inhabitants of that camp. Strike Entertainment's Eric Newman and Marc Abraham are producing. David Foster will be exec producer.

Van Heijningen has shot blurbs for brands including Toyota, Pepsi, Heineken, Bud Light and Visa. He is also developing "Army of the Dead" at Warner Bros. with producer Zack Snyder, who also crossed from commercials to features by directing the Strike-produced "Dawn of the Dead" remake.

[diggler]

always thought that would be a cool story to tell, but it seems scarier not knowing. besides, it's pretty obvious how it all went down in carpenters "thing"

of course all the norewegians will speak english now

[MacGuffin]

Parisot skates to 'Slap Shot' remake
Universal sets director for update
Source: Variety

Universal Pictures is ready to drop the puck on its "Slap Shot" remake, setting Dean Parisot to direct the redo of the 1977 hockey comedy classic.

Peter Steinfeld ("21") is penning the script; Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall will produce.

The original starred Paul Newman as the fading player/coach of a minor league hockey team. Trying to hype the Charlestown Chiefs for a possible move South, the coach ramps up interest by turning his team into a group of brawling thugs.

When Steinfeld took the writing job and spoke about it last summer, Internet pundits were critical of the notion of updating a favorite sports film. Yet such nostalgic resistance certainly did not hurt "The Longest Yard, remake, a global hit that grossed far more than the original.

Parisot last helmed a remake of another comedy "Fun With Dick and Jane."

[MacGuffin]

'Total Recall' ready for revival
Col eyeing contemporary version of 1990 sci-fi flick
Source: Hollywood Reporter

"Total Recall" is totally coming back.

Neal H. Moritz and his Original Films banner are in final negotiations to develop and produce for Columbia a contemporary version of "Total Recall," the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi action movie directed by Paul Verhoeven.

The original, based on the Philip K. Dick story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," follows a man haunted by a recurring dream of journeying to Mars who buys a literal dream vacation from a company called Rekall Inc., which sells implanted memories. The man comes to believe he is a secret agent and ends up on a Martian colony, where he fights to overthrow a despotic ruler controlling the production of air.

The movie explores one of Dick's favorite topics, reality vs. delusion, as audiences never knew whether or not the story was a dream. Either way, the movie grossed a very real $261 million worldwide.

Carolco was behind the original movie, which was distributed by TriStar. Dimension picked up the rights for a reported $3.15 million with the aim of developing a sequel. Columbia secured the rights from Miramax, which retained them when Harvey and Bob Weinstein left to start their own company.

Calling Dick's story "prescient," Moritz said he hoped the advancements in technology and state-of-the-art visual effects can help tell the "Recall" story in a fresh way.

Toby Jaffe is overseeing on behalf of Original Film. Matt Tolmach and Sam Dickerman oversee for Columbia.

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'NeverEnding Story' gets new beginning
Leonard DiCaprio's company among those mulling reboot
Source: Hollywood Reporter

"The NeverEnding Story" might keep going.

Warner Bros. and a pair of top-tier production banners are in the early stages of a reboot of the 1980s children's fantasy classic.

The Kennedy/Marshall Co. ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") and Leonard DiCaprio's shingle Appian Way are in discussions with Warners about reviving the 25-year-old franchise with a modern spin. The studio recently acquired rights to the property, clearing the way for a potential remake.

Born out of a German-language novel by Michael Ende, the film centers on a boy named Bastian Balthazar Bux who discovers a parallel world in a book titled "The NeverEnding Story." As the boy, a loner, delves deeper into the book, he increasingly finds his life intertwined with the plot of the novel, in which a hero in the land of Fantasia must save the universe on behalf of an empress.

The new pic -- which original producer Dieter Geissler also will produce and Sarah Schechter and Jesse Ehrman will oversee for Warners -- will examine the more nuanced details of the book that were glossed over in the first pic.

Wolfgang Petersen directed and Neue Constantin produced the original for Warners, which earned a respectable $20 million when it was released in 1984. The film has had a long life on home video and an even larger influence on popular culture, prefiguring Harry Potter and other present-day children's fantasies.

A sequel directed by George Miller came out in 1990 and earned $17 million; a third movie followed in the U.S. in 1996 but quickly went to video.

Those familiar with the project emphasize that it is in its early stages and that writers have not been attached.

Still, the interest highlights the frenzy among big entertainment players to develop revivals or sequels of dormant '80s and '90s franchises, which has reached fever pitch with the success of reboots like "Friday the 13th" and the fast-track development of a new version of "Robocop."

"NeverEnding" came out long before the fantasy genre was seen as a springboard for a Hollywood blockbuster -- the movie's cast, anchored by Barret Oliver and Noah Hathaway, wasn't composed of superstars -- but Warners is said to see an opportunity in the first-generation children's fantasy. The studio has had success under the current regime producing and releasing the Harry Potter series, which has earned more than $4.5 billion worldwide during the course of its first five pictures.

Appian also is developing another remake of an '80s fantasy, a live-action version of the 1988 anime tale "Akira." Kennedy/Marshall, known for more adult pictures, also has produced youth-oriented fare, including 2006's environmental tale "Hoot."

[Kal]

SHIT.

Well, the Neverending Story is one of my favorite films from when I was a kid. I must have watched that movie 1000 times at least, and the last few times I saw it being older I thought it would have been cool if it was updated without fucking up the story. Now I don't think so anymore.

[MacGuffin]

Carrey, Gyllenhaal do 'Yankees'
New Line taps actors for adaptation of musical
Source: Variety

New Line Cinema is playing ball with Jim Carrey and Jake Gyllenhaal on "Damn Yankees," attaching both actors to star in a contemporized film transfer of the classic musical.

Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel are set to write the script.

The musical is being produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the duo behind New Line's musical "Hairspray"; a sequel to that film is in the works.

"Damn Yankees," which bowed on Broadway in 1955 and won seven Tony Awards, focuses on Joe Boyd, a happily married middle-aged man whose devotion to a hapless pro baseball team prompts him to make a Faustian bargain with the devil to help the team. He's transformed into slugger Joe Hardy, in exchange for Boyd's soul. Boyd can break the deal, but the deadline occurs during the World Series. For good measure, the devil engages Lola, a gorgeous lost soul, to seduce the slugger and seal his fate.

The plan is for Carrey to play the devil, and Gyllenhaal to play Boyd. It's the first musical for each.

The producers tried but struck out on a version of "Damn Yankees" five years ago at Miramax, where they made "Chicago." The rights lapsed after Harvey Weinstein exited that studio. After two years of rights negotiations, "Damn Yankees" is moving forward with Toby Emmerich's New Line.

The trick is finding a balance that retains the show's classic tunes like "(You Gotta Have) Heart" and "Whatever Lola Wants," while injecting a contemporary feel on a musical that is firmly rooted in the 1950s. The intention is to get a script from Ganz and Mandel before meeting directors, and actresses who'll want to play Lola.

The original was directed by George Abbott and choreographed by Bob Fosse, with music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, and book by Abbott and Douglass Wallop. "Damn Yankees" was turned into a 1958 Warner Bros. film that was directed by Abbott and Stanley Donen, with Ray Walston and Gwen Verdon re-creating their stage performances, and Tab Hunter playing the slugger.

Carrey is coming off "Yes Man" and "I Love You Phillip Morris," the latter of which premiered at Sundance and is in distribution discussions. Carrey also plays Ebenezer Scrooge and several other roles in "A Christmas Carol," which Robert Zemeckis directed for Disney in performance capture digital 3-D animation. Carrey also plans to star for director Jason Reitman in "Pierre Pierre" for Fox Searchlight.

Gyllenhaal recently completed the David O. Russell-directed "Nailed," the Jim Sheridan-directed "Brothers," and he plays the title role in the Mike Newell-directed "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" for Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer.

[picolas]

The plan is for Carrey to play the devil, and Gyllenhaal to play Boyd. It's the first musical for each.

cough

[SiliasRuby]

The plan is for Carrey to play the devil, and Gyllenhaal to play Boyd. It's the first musical for each.

cough

Well, that was a musical sequence.

[picolas]

i know. i want to post it at every opportunity.

[SiliasRuby]

understandable.

[pete]

I remember when I first saw the movie I VHS I must'd rewound 20 times to see the FBI agent dancing for that brief second.  It still makes me laugh every single time.

[MacGuffin]

Paul Giamatti Kinda Trashes Japanese Remake of 'Sideways'
Source: Cinematical

Evidently, nothing disturbs an Academy Award-nominated actor more than being offered a cameo role in a foreign-language remake of a movie in which he starred. Reportedly, Paul Giamatti was "stunned" when he was offered a small part in the Japanese remake of Alexander Payne's Sideways. "I don't know what I was going to play," the actor said, according to WENN.com. "I said no. I felt my career hasn't hit that low yet. I thought, 'What am I gonna play - the sushi chef or something?'" Giamatti was also none too pleased with the actor chosen to play Miles, the wine snob he made semi-famous: "They got a strange, little troll to play me."

We wrote about the remake last November. At the time, I noted that California wine imports in Japan had significantly increased, and also observed that a popular, wine-themed comic was credited with sending wine sales skyrocketing across Asia. A recent article in the New York Times cited those same points, and also reports the low-budget remake eliminates 'merlot bashing' while adding plugs for Napa Valley wineries, restaurants, and tourist spots. Sideways did not do much box office business in Japan; that, combined with its "international travels (and the cultural dislocations) of its main characters" made it potentially apealing to the late 30/early 40s audience the Japanese producers are targeting.

I can understand Giamatti not wanting to do a cameo role, though I don't understand why he would trash another actor for his looks. Was he joking? The actor Giamatti reportedly called "a strange, little troll" is named Fumiyo Kohinata. We've posted a publicity still from the movie above, so you can decide for yourself; he's second from the left. Who's the troll?

[Kal]

LOL. That's funny.

I cannot believe this thread has 20 pages already.

[MacGuffin]

Universal to remake 'Videodrome'
David Cronenberg-directed thriller gets redo
Source: Variety

Universal Pictures will remake the 1983 David Cronenberg-directed thriller "Videodrome," with Ehren Kruger set to write the script and produce with partner Daniel Bobker.

The producers tracked down the rights to Canadian distribution vet Rene Malo, who will be exec producer. Universal distributed the original and had first refusal on a remake, and the studio snapped up the opportunity.

The original "Videodrome" starred James Woods as the head of Civic TV Channel 83, who makes his station relevant by programming "Videodrome," a series that depicts torture and murder that transfixes viewers.

The new picture will modernize the concept, infuse it with the possibilities of nano-technology and blow it up into a large-scale sci-fi action thriller.

Cronenberg has no role in the film as yet. He is prepping for MGM "The Matarese Circle" as a starring vehicle for Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington. Since Cruise appears likely to next star in the DreamWorks drama "Motorcade" and Washington has committed to the Fox drama "Unstoppable," "Circle" doesn't appear likely to get under way until later this year or 2010.

Bobker/Kruger Films recently set the thriller "Dream House" at Morgan Creek and is producing, with Matthew Stillman, "The Keep" for Rogue. Kruger co-wrote the June 24 Paramount/DreamWorks release "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

[SiliasRuby]

No, No, Nooooooooooo!