Why, God, why?!? - Films That Should Not Get The Greenlight

[Kal]

The Thing, Cape Fear, Ocean's Eleven, Dawn of the Dead, 12 Monkeys, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Bourne Identity, 3:10 to Yuma, The Ring, Nosferatu, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Last of the Mohicans, Insomnia, The End of the Affair, Traffic...

Granted, that's only a handful, and even some of those are questionable.  But certainly "remake" is not automatically a curse word.

Yeah like I said, there are a few decent ones, but there is a dozen films in your list going back to the 80's and now they are pretty much making 50 remakes a year. I think Nosferatu doesn't count just for being such a classic character, same as I would not necessarily count Superman or Batman. The Ring is once again a remake from a foreign film, so it also does not go with what I was saying. Traffic if I'm not mistaken was a foreign TV show also, not a classic movie. Bourne Identity I thought it was based on the book and not a previous movie.

Anyway, point is, the great majority are bullshit. There are very few good examples.

Some of the ones I am  looking forward to and hope they don't suck are: Alice in Wonderland, Flash Gordon, The Neverending Story.

[Stefen]

All those other movies mentioned weren't certified classics of cinema.

I put remaking Alien in the same vein as a remake of something like 2001. It's not just some action movie that was fun, but shitty. Alien is a certified classic despite it's genre.

[squints]

but dude, fucking, it's an awful trend thread.

[Gold Trumpet]

The Alien remake is still just a rumor. No official sources have confirmed it.

The original Nosferatu certainly was a classic. It was remade for good intentions and the results were fine. Of course the remake waited almost 60 years before being made so it wasn't on everyone's list of favorite movies. I don't give a shit about any of the Alien movies so I don't care, but anytime I also think about my favorite movies being remade, I still don't really care. If anything a remake will bring about an awesome new DVD of said favorite movie. Other than that a remake doesn't change a thing about my relationship with the original. If anything, a bad remake will make me appreciate it more.

The instances I would care is with the Star Wars and E.T. updates. Making them look more modern was unnecessary and destroyed a lot of memories for fans in how they felt.

[polkablues]

I was mostly playing devil's advocate; the only truly great remakes on that list are End of the Affair, Cape Fear, and The Thing (12 Monkeys is close).  The rest are either so-so or don't really technically qualify.

[MacGuffin]

An Alien Prequel is in the Works
Source:Bloody-Disgusting, Collider

Rumors coming out of Bloody-Disgusting stated that 20th Century Fox was interested in relaunching the Alien franchise with some sort of reboot or remake, following the recent news that Robert Rodriguez would be doing the same thing for 20th Century Fox's other sci-fi creature franchise, Predator.

While there was no confirmation from the Fox camp or the trades, Collider's roving reporter "Frosty" cornered director Tony Scott at the press conference for his own remake of The Taking of Pelham 123 to get confirmation and learned that Scott-Free Productions is indeed producing a remake with director Carl Rinsch helming.

They hope that the movie, which is meant act as a prequel to Ridley Scott's original 1979 classic Alien, will be shooting by the end of the year. The original Bloody-Disgusting story suggested that they would return to the original concept of just one alien creature, and that they'd be looking for a new "Ripley."

[MacGuffin]

Bride of Frankenstein comes to life
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Universal and Imagine are breathing new life into "Bride of Frankenstein."

The companies are in talks with Neil Burger to write and direct their long-stirring remake of the 1935 monster movie. Burger, who would pen the script with writing partner Dirk Wittenborn, most prominently wrote and helmed "The Illusionist," the Edward Norton magician mystery that earned nearly $40 million for Yari Film Group in 2006.

James Whale's "Bride of Frankenstein," which starred Boris Karloff as the monster and Elsa Lanchester as the titular bride, continued the story that began with 1931's "Frankenstein." A monster, on the run from an angry mob, has a series of adventures, and also persuades Dr. Frankenstein to create a mate. The doctor is successful, but the bride (who is not a central character) winds up rejecting the monster at the end of the movie.

The CAA-repped Burger, who also penned and helmed Iraq-veteran pic "The Lucky Ones," is attached to direct "Dark Fields," a thriller about a slacker who discovers a drug that makes him sharper. That pic is also set up at Universal, but progress has been slowed since star Shia LaBeouf was forced to pull out last year with a hand injury.

"Bride" has had a series of stops and starts. About five years ago, "American Splendor" scribes Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini were attached to write the screenplay for the Uni/Imagine update. Their concept was to set the picture in contemporary New York, with a young woman dying and then unnaturally brought back to life (Burger's version is expected to differ significantly from that concept). Jacob Estes, a writer on Spider-Man spinoff "Venom," also at one point had been attached to write a draft.

Brian Grazer and Sean Daniel will produce the pic;  Karen Kehela, David Bernardi and Chris Wade will oversee for Imagine.

Universal is eager to develop reboots of its library of classic monster titles, insiders in the development community said. It is developing a new version of "Creature from the Black Lagoon," the 1954 Jack Arnold pic about a monstrous fish that a group of travelers encounters in the Amazon, and later this year it will release the Benicio Del Toro-toplined "The Wolf Man," an update on George Waggner's 1941 werewolf tale.

"Frankenstein" has been remade numerous times — Mary Shelley's book sits in the public domain — but "Bride" has had only one other go-round on the big screen: a 1985 version at Columbia starring Sting and Jennifer Beals. In 1999, Bill Condon's "Gods and Monsters," a biopic of Whale, showed clips from the film and re-created the bride herself.

[SiliasRuby]

God DAMN it.

[MacGuffin]

Poltergeist Remake Coming on November 24, 2010!
Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com

ShockTillYouDrop.com has learned that MGM's planned remake of Tobe Hooper's classic '80s haunted house movie Poltergeist has received a release date of November 24, 2010, Thanksgiving weekend. With director Vadim Perelman (House of Sand and Fog) attached since last September, the production has been in development a long time with a script surfacing last year, but so far, no cast has been announced and no information about where or when they might start filming.

[MacGuffin]

IS LEONARDO DICAPRIO THE THIRD MAN?
Source: CHUD

File this one under rumor, but it's a pretty solid rumor or I wouldn't be running it. This is still early enough in the game that it could all fall apart, but it's also late enough in the game that it could be officially announced in a week or two.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire might be starring in a remake of the classic Carol Reed film The Third Man, which is being written by Eastern Promises screenwriter Steven Knight. The package comes from Canal Plus and it's going out for bidding, and the bidding is likely to be fierce. That's a hell of a line-up, after all. And it's before they have a director in place.

The big question is who plays what? Would DiCaprio take on the lead role of Holly Martins, the pulp author who comes to post-WWII Vienna for the funeral of his friend Harry Lime, or would he take on Harry Lime himself, a shadowy figure immortalized by Orson Welles? My money's on Leo stepping into Welles' shoes and with Maguire playing Holly.

The next big question is what's the setting? Would it be set in modern day Baghdad? Or would Knight find another setting in which to set up Harry Lime's racket (do it scifi!)? And then there's another big question - do you keep Harry Lime's famous ferris wheel monologue, one of the greatest in cinema history? You sort of have to... but you also don't want to be the guys who redo something perfect.

Then again, with that line of thinking nobody would be remaking The Third Man.

[Gamblour.]

Hmph. I read that on CHUD this morning, and I've been thinking about how completely wrong Leo is for Harry Lime. He's just not BIG enough. Orson Welles stepping out of that doorway is one of the biggest reveals in cinema, and it's because it's both well done and it's fucking Welles. He is grandiose and super human, so when we see him, it's like a fucking lightning bolt. Leo would hardly be a jolt at all (and Tobey is just wrong wrong wrong for Holly Martins).

Now Leo as Holly Martins? Yes, that'd do. But who is BIG enough to play Harry Lime, i.e. replace Welles? It would have to be almost parody, like Tarantino stepping out of the shadows. Or oozing charm, like George Clooney. Or star power, like Tom Cruise. Or legit bigness, like DDL.

And what about the zither score? And a writer with the caliber of Graham Greene? This is bad no matter who's on board.

[MacGuffin]

A new 'Wizard of Oz' could make its way down the Hollywood road
Source: Los Angeles Times

EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off Disney's massive success with Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," Warner Bros. wants to remake another childhood classic. Like, really classic.

The studio is examining two existing "Wizard of Oz" projects, with an eye toward giving one of them a modern gloss and moving it toward the screen.

One project, called "Oz," currently lives at Warner's New Line label. It's being produced by Temple Hill, which is behind a little franchise called "Twilight," and has a script written by Darren Lemke, a writer on the upcoming "Shrek Forever After."

A second "Wizard of Oz" project, set up at Warners proper, skews a little darker -- it's written by "A History of Violence" screenwriter Josh Olson and focuses on a granddaughter of Dorothy who returns to Oz to fight evil. "Clash of the Titans" producer Basil Iwanyk and his Thunder Road Pictures are behind that one. ("Spawn" creator Todd MacFarlane is potentially involved in a producerial capacity, to give you some idea of the tone.)

While the idea of a new "Wizard of Oz" movie is said to be in the development, let's-bat-this-around stage, it's been advanced seriously enough on the lot that representatives for some of the top directors around Hollywood have been briefed.

The Judy Garland-starring "The Wizard of Oz" from 1939 -- we could give you the refresher on witches, tin men, Dorothy and everyone else, but really, do we need to? -- has been given alternative treatments before. There was the 1978 black-themed film adaptation of the stage play "The Wiz." And of course about six years ago came the Broadway adaptation of Gregory Maguire's "Wicked," an alternative story of girls, witches and  Emerald City politics. The property proved a huge stage hit, prompting a film version that's in development at Universal and "Wanted" producer Marc Platt.

Audiences are likely to respond to the idea of a new silver screen "Wizard of Oz" with gusto ("at least the first one was good," said one colleague we told) or with horror, precisely because the original is such a classic.

But for Warners, there's plenty of appeal in trying to take the story of Dorothy & Co. back to the big screen. For one, there's the bonkers $210 million global opening for "Alice," which shows that if you're trying to create a mega-blockbuster, one smart way to do it is to take a title people know and update it for the effects era. And there's a neat symmetry, since the Technicolor version of the classic film did for color in the movies what a lot of people say that "Avatar," "Alice" -- and now, perhaps, "Wizard" -- could do for 3-D in the movies.

With its Harry Potter series drawing to an end, Warners also likes the idea of a franchise, and "Wizard of Oz" and the many books L. Frank Baum wrote featuring many of the same characters (all of which are in the public domain) fit the bill nicely. And let's not forget the property's strong, young female protagonist, hugely in vogue now in the post -Twilight" and -"Alice" eras.

There could still be questions about the project's title (the book's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is in the public domain but the movie's "The Wizard of Oz" is not; it's owned by MGM, whose library is partly owned by Warner Bros.). And then there's the matter of whether filmmakers would make the movie with musical elements, as the original, of course, did. Those questions aside, it could be the moneymaking formula.

Follow the yellow brick road. It's strewn with CGI, tent poles and 3-D. And, of course, a little green.

[MacGuffin]

'Point Break' to Be Remade by Alcon and Warner Bros.
The original 1991 movie, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, starred Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze.
Source: THR

Point Break, the 1991 thriller set against the world of surfing, is getting an extreme-sports make-over, courtesy of Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros.

In the original film, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, Keanu Reeves starred as Johnny Utah, an undercover FBI agent looking for a gang of bank robbers, led by Patrick Swayze's Bodhi, amid the Southern California surfing scene. The new version, with a screenplay by Kurt Wimmer (Salt), will be set in the world of international extreme sports and also involve an FBI agent infiltrating a criminal ring.

Alcon co-founders and ce-CEOS Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson secured rights to the project, which is marking its 20th anniversary, from Singapore-headquartered RGM Media, John McMurrick and Chris Taylor. Kosove and Johnson will produce along with Michael DeLuca, John Baldecchi, Taylor and Wimmer. RGM Media principal Devesh Chetty and investor McMurrick, chairman of Marloss Entertainment, will serve as executive producers.

The film, which Warners will distribute, is being fast tracked, with the filmmakers set to take the project out to directors soon. The original movie was produced by Largo Entertainment and released by Fox. In addition to the feature rights, Alcon has also secured television and gaming rights to Point Break.

"Who doesn't love the Kathryn Bigelow original and its pure heart-pounding action and thrills? Kurt's take infuses the story and characters with new twists and settings," Broderick and Kosove said.

"Point Break wasn't just a film, it was a Zen meditation on testosterone fueled action and manhood in the late 20th century and we hope to create the same for the young 21st!," DeLuca added.

[polkablues]

KURT FUCKING WIMMER?

[Pubrick]

fuckin' DeLuca.