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The fact that another science fiction remake is announced every week doesn't mean Hollywood has run out of ideas. It just means nostalgia is the mind-killer. And it's only going to get worse, now that the Omega Man remake I Am Legend was such a huge success. So which planned remake makes you want to firebomb your local cineplex? Click through to vote.
When I started putting this poll together, I was shocked by how many remakes are currently on the slate. Some of them are more definite than others: Jason Statham in Death Race, Brendan Fraser in Journey to the Center of the Earth and Keanu Reeves in The Day The Earth Stood Still are definitely happening. (Oh, and Will Ferrell's Land of the Lost.)
Less definite: Gerald Butler is supposed to be starring in the remake of Escape From New York, with a director TBA, but some reports say Butler has pulled out. (Butler himself said recently he's still considering doing it.) Peter Berg's Dune is in the early stages, and so is Roland Emmerich's Fantastic Voyage. Robert Rodriguez's Barbarella is in limbo, but he's still trying to get it made with Rose McGowan.
Even less definite: The remakes of Logan's Run and Metropolis seemed so uncertain, I left them out of the poll. Oh, and I forgot to include The Greatest American Hero and Scanners, which are also in the early planning stages, in the poll.
I started to make a joke along the lines of, "next they'll remake Westworld or something," only to realize a Westworld remake is also in the planning stages.
So leaving out the super-iffy Westworld, Greatest American, Scanners, Logan's Run and Metropolis, there are still a lot of forthcoming remakes to choose from. Which one fills you with the most revulsion?
Comments
Is Keanu going to say "Klaatu barada nik"Whoa""?
Remaking "The Day the Earth Stood Still" with Keanu just doesn't sit well with me... I think maybe they should go with unknown actors on this one...
I'd be more worried about Keanu if the original Klaatu wasn't a tall, thin, dark haired, sort of weird quiet guy as well.
The Day the Earth Stood Still is just fine as is, thank you very much. This one bugs me the most of the title son the list, simply because it is one of my all time favorite sci-fi films. I don't have much of an opinion on any of the other son the list, except maybe Dune but only because there hasn't been a satisfactory adaptation yet made. The Miniseries had a better story but the set design and costumes were shit.
My dream Dune movie has the aesthetic sensibility of the David Lynch with a bit of a tighter storyline than the miniseries. Maybe one day, with motion capture and digital effects someone could re-edit/ recreate the Lynch Dune but with the story intact? That'd work for me.
For the record, about seven years before Omega Man, Vincent Price starred in The Last Man on Earth, which is by far still the best movie version of I Am Legend.
All of them. No original thinking going on out in Hollwierdland.
I'd actually be very excited about a Rodriguez Barbarella. Not sure it's useful to pretend Spy Kids/Shark Boy is all that he's created to make it sound like a bad idea.
"Journey" with Fraser... is NOT a remake. Advanced screenings are one joy of living in Southern California.
To be frank? I'm dreading 'em all...
Keanu plays Gort, right?
Missing option "all of the above".
None of the ones you have in that list will EVER beat Tim Burton's horrific clusterf@#k re-make of Planet of the Apes.
Who didn't get that people NOT talking was CRUCIAL TO THE WHOLE DAMN THING????
None of the above.
@IrisMR: I'm with you. My childhood movie favorites should not be remade, reimagined, rebooted, regurgitated, recycled, or otherwise redone.
I think that it is about time for an updated version of "Forbidden Planet".
I've never understood why remakes are a problem. If you don't like it, go watch the original.
There's also a _When Worlds Collide_ coming down the pipe, but I'm not sure how I feel about that one. I recently read the books and rewatched the movie. The movie loosely follows the book, but adds a number of nice elements -- they both simplified and improved the book, IMHO.
Not looking forward to any of them particularly.
Hate to say it but I think the Sci Fi channel despite the obvious ack of funds did about the best version of Dune we are going to see considering the size and scope of the book. The only way they will ever get a Dune movie made better would be to go the LotR route, and Dune is just not as popular a book in peoples minds.
I have to agree with the need for an all-of-the-above option. Or at the very least allow this to be a check list instead. I don't see a single movie on that list that needs updating for a modern audience.
last night i watched Ghostbusters for the first time since I was a kid and realized exactly why there's a right time and place for a script. If they made it today, it would have the same cast as Ocean's 11.
So what is the point of Death Race 2000 without the homesewn "F" jerseys?
@Tim Faulkner: The problem with Rodriguez is if it isn't over-the-top corny kitsch-for-kids, it's over-the-top bloody violence.
Yeah, I am all about a remake of Barbarella as well. That movie's overall is just so-so, but the scenes that stick out REALLY stick out... and Rodriguez will keep some of the cheese packed in. I am a little concerned about his love of ultra-violence, though. If only the great Russ Meyer hadn't passed on... there's a real director for barbarella!
I like "Chip Chillios" in Death Race, but agree making them prisoners takes some of the coolness out of it. Why can't we make movies today that are so outragous, why do they all have to be in the "this could really happen NOW!" vein?
I'm voting for day the earht stood still. there is no way in hell Hollywood can remake that without it being a total crap-fest. and probably making $350 million bank, too *cough, cough independence day cough, cough*
I think I'm dreading every single one of these. Could the WGA come up with something ORIGINAL now that they've had 4 months off?!
Other than attempting to break strikes and cheating people of their due, are hollywood producers/studio heads completely devoid of any ideas but remaking (mostly banal) old movies/TV shows/comics into new "state of the art" movies. I mean please walk into a bookstore and pull virtually "any" SF/F book off the shelf and it would make a better movie. Movie moguls are brain dead.
Death Race. Can't stand Jason Statham, love the original movie the way it is.
Huh? Spy Kids rocked - all of them! In fact the DVD for the third one (you know, the 3d one) had not one, not two, but FOUR sets of SK branded 3d glasses in the package. TOP THAT!
"The Day the Earth Stood Still" should NEVER be remade. It is a classic that should not be touched. Ever.
There are certain movies that are just fine the way they are and have made it this far without a remake because people still enjoy watching them as-is. Other movies that comes to mind along with this one are "Forbidden Planet", "This Island Earth", and the original "Time Machine" (and, yes, I know that last one was remade, but we saw how well it went).
Can I say it now? My most dreaded movie remake:
>>>>> JAWS! <<<<<<<
Starring: Samuuel L. Jackson
Guest starring: Bruce Willis
Directed by: Michael Bay
Featuring genetecally engineered CGI sharks and a gunboat equiped with rocket launcher, and a really big flamethrower.
Signature SLJ line: "You MADE these motherfuckers? They damn near bit my balls off!"
I picked escape from New York.
That movie should never be remade.
For obvious reasons.
How can you improve on Snake Plissken? You can't, so don't try.
Dune always makes my ears perk up. I can't help it.
But then that Damned "why don't we mock and destroy Land of the Lost" remake keeps making my ears droop, my lips curl back, my fangs extend, and I start barking at people and trying to bite them.
It's a travesty to remake "The Day the Earth Stood Still", and casting Keanu as the lead will certainly admit you to the innermost circle of cinema hell.
Certainly, no one would ever propose that "Gone With the Wind" or "Casablanca" be remade, so why is it considered okay to remake a Science Fiction masterpiece?
Oh I so love the Idea of Rodriguez doing a Barbarella remake. How can that not be awsome?
As for the Rest...*shudders*
@Ghost
I agree, its not like Barbarella was high art or something. I haven't seen Rodriguez deliver anything that wasn't entertaining.
@Huxleyhobbes: In theory yes go watch the original.
The problem is that if you flick through your TV listings these days, you're more likely to find the remake being shown rather than the original.
@Tim Faulkner: I agree... Barbarella in Sin City, Mexico with zombies? That could work..
Let me get this straight..reeves is going to play the robot? I don't know if he's got the emotional or acting chops for that role.
I would actually like to see a good remake of "Westworld." You could update it to more modern technology and still make a good story out of it. Of course that's the catch -- the studios could also make a complete hash of it.
Neuromancer, not a remake, but I'm dreading it.
I would love to see a remake of Forbidden Planet -- one of my all-time favorites.
If a classic plot is redone well, and the movie being remade is old enough, I don't have much of a problem...Modern camera-work, set design, lighting, makeup, stunt-work, and special effects could really move the near-misses of yore into the spotlight of today. A lot of the old writing had substance, and a lot of movies only really failed to make an impact because they lacked the budget and capabilities that today's movies have. I know that the stationary cam pointing at a set hinders my own enjoyment of older movies, and I doubt I'm alone.
That said, remaking the top-of-the-chart blockbusters of yesteryear and modern Japanese horror flics is worthless; if there's already a good version of a movie, the new version is already forced to fight with its source material on top of its contemporary competition.
If there was ever irrefutable proof that there is no intelligent life in Hollywood, this is it. The current stable of dimbulb wannabes in science fiction scripting decide NOT to try anything original, but instead to go back 'where everyone else has been before.'
Why not try making a brilliant Science Fiction comedy film out of Stanislaw Lem's CYBERIAD? Why not shoot for doing script of Corwainer Smith's NORSTRILIA? How about an attempt at doing Harry Harrison's DEATHWORLD?
This, I feel, is why Hollywood is ultimately doomed, and why indies like the Coen brothers are chipping away at the film trade. More power to them. Maybe someday we'll get a science fiction producer with the requisite imagination and gumption to strike out in some new directions...by moving FORWARD...
All this advance snarkage... makes me...
Huh. Why do I want potato chips all of a sudden?
@JennaW: Best. Comment. Today.
@mgcramps: No. Bad. No remaking Forbidden Planet.
@Pigmann: Agreed! And mostly because it stuck to the original ending.
When I was in High School, we had a once every four year, dual semester science fiction class. It was awesome.
We spent the first semester reading about three dozen short stories from things like Asimov's and OMNI, and we'd spend at least two days talking about each.
We spent the entire second semester simultaneously reading the novel and watching the movie Dune. I don't think a single person walked out of that class liking the movie, when compared to the book.
Anyway, that high school produced a hell of a lot of sci-fi fanatics, and it was probably because of that class, and the only teacher who taught it.
I'm reeealy looking forward to a Will Ferrell Land of the Lost.
They could do it like bewitched, about the show/behind the scenes, or make it actually "land of the lost" and I'd love it.
Especially if they kept the same crappy stop motion FX.
Without a doubt, The Day The Earth Stood Still has me cringe more than the others.
Now, Land Of The Lost "could" be good, but ONLY if the use the 90's Opening.
+ Watch video
see, when you say "robert rodriguez" i think desperado and from dusk til dawn and not so much spy kids.
Keee-rystler! (to quote Death Race 2000). How do you remake this movie without the Real Don Steele? I'm sure, like the Burton version of Planet of the Apes, Death Race will be stripped of all it's funny social commentary and only the violence and intrinsic dumbness will be left. Pointless exercise.
Gort lurches out of spaceship, says "whoa."