Hollywood is creatively bankrupt
The remake... the reboot... they're all the rage in Hollywood at the moment, as studios cotton on to the fact that they can make money off existing groups of hardcore fans and feed off their hype instead of attempting anything "new" from scratch. And it looks like the 1980s is currently the decade of choice for cinematic grave robbing.
Here's what we can expect in the coming few years (Please note that this list is far from exhaustive - it's merely what I've stumbled across over the past few months):
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RoboCop - "Part man. Part machine. All cop." Coming in 2010, this project is either going to be a reboot, or *gasp* yet another sequel. Whatever it is, this teaser poster, which debuted at The Licensing International Expo 2008 in New York, looks fricken cheap.
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Highlander - "There can be only one". Penned by the co-writers of Iron Man. According to the Hollywood Reporter article, the film will feature more backstory, as well as romance in order to focus on the emotional complexities of being an immortal who loses loved ones to old age.
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Dune - "The spice!" Already adapted by master of weirdness David Lynch back in the early 1980s, and turned into a miniseries a few years back, Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi novel is being tackled for the big screen yet again... this time by Peter Berg.
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Flash Gordon - "Flash... a-ha! He'll save every one of us!" Cue the Queen music and cheesy special effects. After 30 years, the iconic comic book character is returning to the big screen to fight Ming the Merciless all over again.
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Friday the 13th - This should be among the first of the new batch of 80's remakes to reach cinemas, as it is currently in production, and set for release next year. Although not technically a reboot, Jason Voorhees's usual routine of hacking through doped up, sex-crazed Summer Camp counsellors will apparently be accompanied by a strong sense of series history.
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Red Dawn - MGM is apparently seriously considering a remake of the ridiculous 1984 actioner about a group of teenagers who defend the United States against invading Communist forces. What next? An Iron Eagle reboot?
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The Wolf Man - Granted it doesn't have its source in the 1980s, but The Wolf Man is another high profile remake (based on the 1941 Universal horror classic). Benicio del Toro fills Lon Chaney, Jr's paws as Lawrence Talbot, a man who finds himself inflicted with a werewolf curse. Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving and Geraldine Chaplin co-star.
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Rosemary's Baby - Although there have been no casting announcements, in the next few years we're going to be subjected to a totally superfluous remake of Roman Polanski's classic suspense film. How do the filmmakers justify the project? "If we don't do it, someone else will!" Nice.
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Witchblade - Given her outfit, it was always unlikely that Hollywood would leave comic book heroinne Sara Pezzini alone - even after the dud Yancy Butler TV series. Well, apparently we can expect a new live-action film next year. In fact, although no actress has been cast, the filmmakers have already cooked up a saucy teaser poster and offical website.
Here's what we can expect in the coming few years (Please note that this list is far from exhaustive - it's merely what I've stumbled across over the past few months):
---------------------------------------
RoboCop - "Part man. Part machine. All cop." Coming in 2010, this project is either going to be a reboot, or *gasp* yet another sequel. Whatever it is, this teaser poster, which debuted at The Licensing International Expo 2008 in New York, looks fricken cheap.
---------------------------------------
Highlander - "There can be only one". Penned by the co-writers of Iron Man. According to the Hollywood Reporter article, the film will feature more backstory, as well as romance in order to focus on the emotional complexities of being an immortal who loses loved ones to old age.
---------------------------------------
Dune - "The spice!" Already adapted by master of weirdness David Lynch back in the early 1980s, and turned into a miniseries a few years back, Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi novel is being tackled for the big screen yet again... this time by Peter Berg.
---------------------------------------
Flash Gordon - "Flash... a-ha! He'll save every one of us!" Cue the Queen music and cheesy special effects. After 30 years, the iconic comic book character is returning to the big screen to fight Ming the Merciless all over again.
---------------------------------------
Friday the 13th - This should be among the first of the new batch of 80's remakes to reach cinemas, as it is currently in production, and set for release next year. Although not technically a reboot, Jason Voorhees's usual routine of hacking through doped up, sex-crazed Summer Camp counsellors will apparently be accompanied by a strong sense of series history.
---------------------------------------
Red Dawn - MGM is apparently seriously considering a remake of the ridiculous 1984 actioner about a group of teenagers who defend the United States against invading Communist forces. What next? An Iron Eagle reboot?
---------------------------------------
The Wolf Man - Granted it doesn't have its source in the 1980s, but The Wolf Man is another high profile remake (based on the 1941 Universal horror classic). Benicio del Toro fills Lon Chaney, Jr's paws as Lawrence Talbot, a man who finds himself inflicted with a werewolf curse. Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving and Geraldine Chaplin co-star.
---------------------------------------
Rosemary's Baby - Although there have been no casting announcements, in the next few years we're going to be subjected to a totally superfluous remake of Roman Polanski's classic suspense film. How do the filmmakers justify the project? "If we don't do it, someone else will!" Nice.
---------------------------------------
Witchblade - Given her outfit, it was always unlikely that Hollywood would leave comic book heroinne Sara Pezzini alone - even after the dud Yancy Butler TV series. Well, apparently we can expect a new live-action film next year. In fact, although no actress has been cast, the filmmakers have already cooked up a saucy teaser poster and offical website.
Comments
I'm hoping that, if there is a Highlander 2, no mention of Zeist will ever come through. And hopefully this time a Scottish guy won't be playing a Spaniard, though we should all be able to overlook that originally since it was Sean Connery and all.
And the Witchblade TV series would have been better had Yancey not succumbed to her personal demons. It died way too quickly in order to get a following.
I've only ever seen bits and pieces of the Dune film but I thoroughly enjoyed the mini-series.
As for Highlander, don't forget that along with a Scot playing a Spaniard we also had a Frenchman playing a Scot! :)
Highlander has always been a great concept but I do think they've kind of killed it now to the point where there is nothing new to add to the mix. They'll only be retreading the same old territory... unless they make it more historical and have conflict in all the interesting different ages.