Although remakes have been a common trend in the Weekly Ketchup for quite a while, few weeks have ever been as dominated by them as this one, with remakes taking up 6 of the 11 stories. That is surely an all time (and dubious) record. And then there’s a few sequels as well (White Chicks 2, Spider-Man 5 & 6). Hooray for originality, Hollywood.
James Vanderbilt (Zodiac; cowriter of The Rundown), who Sony had originally hired to write the script for Spider-Man 4, has been hired again by the studio to work on scripts for both Spider-Man 5 and Spider-Man 6. Vanderbilt’s work on Spider-Man 4 got started back in the time when Sony was hoping to film both Spider-Man 4 and Spider-Man 5 back-to-back. But director Sam Raimi didn’t like the ideas in Vanderbilt’s script, and hired another writer to work on Spider-Man 4. Sony, however, liked Vanderbilt’s two-movie idea, and so has rehired the writer to apply those ideas to the two sequels further down the road. That’s likely to also mark the point at which the franchise is revamped, with Sam Raimi probably departing, and the status of the cast (Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, etc) also up in the air after Spider-Man 4. What villains Vanderbilt is using in his two-movie, interconnected plot isn’t yet known. Sony’s efforts to speed up plans for Spider-Man 5 and Spider-Man 6 are reportedly tied to the increasing delays between each new Spider-Man. Although there was only two years between the first two movies, it was three years between 2 and 3, and there will have been 4 years between Spider-Man 3 and 2011’s eventual release of Spider-Man 4.
Just a week after the news broke that Bryan Singer (X-Men, Superman Returns, Valkyrie) is producing and directing a big screen adaptation of the classic 1970s TV series Battlestar Galactica, the director has attached himself to another remake (along with Warner Bros) in the form of the classic 1981 King Arthur epic Excalibur. Directed by John Boorman (Deliverance, Hope and Glory), Excalibur was a very British sword and sorcery project which focused on the more magical aspects of the King Arthur mythos, emphasizing the conflict between the wizard Merlin and the evil sorcereress Morgana Le Fay. Excalibur is also memorable for featuring many actors who went on to great fame, such as Helen Mirren, Liam Neeson, Patrick Stewart and Gabriel Byrne. There’s no writer yet for this Excalibur remake, so its place in Singer’s growing list of upcoming projects is probably a few years away. The project that is reportedly most likely to be Singer’s next as director is Jack the Giant Killer, a New Line Cinema project that revamps the giant beanstalk fairy tale with Jack as a young farmer who leads an expedition into the land of the giants to rescue a kidnapped princess. That will keep Bryan Singer busy for at least a year, at which point, he will be able to choose from between Battlestar Galactica, Excalibur and X-Men: First Class as his next project.
Director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Back to the Future), who has found new life as the man who specializes in CGI motion capture animated movies (The Polar Express, Beowulf), has found what may be his next project after this fall’s A Christmas Carol (starring Jim Carrey); with a remake of The Beatles’ 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine, which is already being scheduled as a likely summer, 2012 release. Walt Disney Pictures and Zemeckis are in negotiations to acquire the rights to remaking Yellow Submarine in a deal which would also include the rights to 16 Beatles songs, including such memorable hits as “All You Need Is Love,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Yellow Submarine was a bizarre, surreal and hallucinatory mix of comedy and adventure in which Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band are the protectors of Pepperland, a musical paradise under the sea which comes under attack from the Blue Meanies, a bizarre race that hates music. Soundalike actors were used to play the Beatles through much of the movie, and so the same will most likely be done for this remake. There’s no word yet as to whether Paul McCartney or Ringo Starr might participate in any way on this remake.
Lionsgate is developing a remake of the 1987 hit romantic musical Dirty Dancing, starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, which was made for just $6 million and went on to earn $213 million globally. In the original Dirty Dancing, Patrick Swayze played a 30-something dance instructor at a 1963 summer resort in the Catskills who seduced a teenage girl through his use of erotic dance moves. The movie inspired a 2004 sequel, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, which was considered a bomb, earning just $27 million from a budget of $25 million. The script for the Dirty Dancing remake is being written by Julia Dahl, cowriter of 2003’s Uptown Girls, starring Brittany Murphy and Dakota Fanning. Given that it will probably take a few years for the movie to be developed, 2013 will mark the 50th anniversary of the original movie’s 1963 setting. So, do you think Dirty Dancing can be remade, or should the cops be out looking for Johnny Castle on statuatory rape charges?
The Wayans Brothers and Sony Pictures are developing a sequel to their 2004 comedy hit, White Chicks, which grossed $70 million in the USA. The brothers are deploying their usual formula, with Keenan Ivory Wayans directing, Marlon and Shawn starring, and all three brothers collaborating on the script. In addition to White Chicks, the Wayans have previously collaborated on the first two Scary Movie spoofs, Little Man and this summer’s Dance Flick. The details of the plot of White Chicks 2 is being kept under wraps, but it will most likely be about the further adventures of two African American FBI agents who go undercover as young white women. Or perhaps they’ll mix things up this time? Maybe they could have competition from a pair of white female FBI agents who go undercover as black dudes?
Warner Bros has hired director Michael Davis (Shoot ‘Em Up, 100 Girls) for their planned remake of the 1981 science fiction film Outland, which originally starred Sean Connery. Described as a western set in space (with obvious parallels to High Noon), Outland was the story of a federal marshal stationed at a remote mining colony on the Jupiter moon of Io who discovers a murderous conspiracy to cover up the rampant use of a dangerous drug, leading to a showdown with two assassins sent to eliminate the marshall. The remake script is being written by newcomer Chad St. John, who also has another script, The Days Before, in development at Warner Bros. Of the adaptation, director Davis said, “we’re staying true to the thematic heart of Outland while expanding the space frontier concept.” Something that is worth noting about Warner Bros developing this remake (which is basically “High Noon in space”) is that it follows recent news of other projects which take classic stories and sets them in space, namely their remakes of Homer’s The Odyssey and the pirate adventure of Captain Blood. So, what other classic stories would you like to see Warner Bros move to an outer space setting?
Warner Bros is developing a new version of one of Hollywood’s most frequently remade classic comedy concepts, Brewster’s Millions, about a man who has to spend a great deal of money in a short time, for a chance to inherit even more money. Starting off as a 1902 novel, Brewster originally had to spend $1 million in one year, but over the course of the seven movie adaptations, the stakes were increased, to where in the 1985 version, Richard Pryor’s version of Brewster had to spend $30 million in just 30 days in order to inherit $300 million. For this 8th Hollywood production, one has to wonder if the title might not get changed to something like Brewster’s Billions, to keep up with inflation. The script is being handled by the team of Michael Diliberti and Matthew Sullivan, who got the job following the buzz for their spec script called Comic Con, about a group of friends who plan a heist in San Diego to save their local comic book store from a corporate takeover.
With the 40th anniversary of Woodstock this week, it was a good time for Legendary Pictures (300, The Dark Knight) to announce their plans to develop a Jimi Hendrix biopic. Thomas Tull, who also produced the recent rock documentary It Might Get Loud (starring Jimmy Plant, The Edge and Jack White), is producing for Legendary. The script is being adapted by Max Borenstein, whose most recent script was What Is Life Worth?, a fact-based drama about the 9/11 Victim Compenstation Fund. What this Jimi Hendrix project is missing for right now, however, is any sort of rights to Hendrix’s actual music. Legendary’s plan is to develop the movie first, and acquire the rights later. Legendary’s plans for a Jimi Hendrix movie are not the first; the idea of Jimi getting his own movie goes back at least as far as around the time that Oliver Stone directed The Doors, nearly 20 years ago. Musicians that have been considered possibilities to play Jimi Hendrix in a movie include Lenny Kravitz and Andre Benjamin of Outkast.
With Steven Spielberg’s long-planned Lincoln biopic apparently on the backburner as the director moves on to other projects, another Hollywood heavyweight is moving forward with a similiarly-themed project. This fall, Robert Redford (Quiz Show, Lions for Lambs) will start directing the independent drama, The Conspirator, about the trial of Mary Surratt, who was convicted of collaborating with John Wilkes Booth in his plot to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. The Conspirator was written by James D. Solomon, who wrote and produced the ESPN mini-series The Bronx is Burning, about the 1977 New York Yankees. The Conspirator is currently casting, with James McAvoy (Wanted) reportedly up for one of the top roles, which is probably either John Wilkes Booth, Mary’s son John or Frederick Allen, Surratt’s attorney. James McAvoy also signed on this week to star in an untitled project formerly known as I’m With Cancer, as a 25-year-old who discovers he has cancer. The comedy will be directed by Nicole Holofcener (Friends with Money, Lovely & Amazing), and will be produced by Seth Rogen, who will also costar.
Fox 2000 has hired director Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Closer, The Birdcage) for their adaptation of the 1957 novel Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith, who also wrote the books that became the movies Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley. The landing of a high profile director like Nichols comes just two weeks after Fox 2000 also landed Steven Spielberg to direct their remake of Harvey. Deep Water is being adapted by screenwriter Joe Penhall (Enduring Love), whose next movie is this autumn’s The Road, starring Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron. In Deep Water, an agreement between a husband and wife in a loveless marriage in which he allows her to take lovers becomes much more complicated when her lovers start dying mysteriously.
There were several contender’s for this week’s rotten idea, but I ultimately had to side against something particular about this following story. Bloody Disgusting received a tip this week that Universal Pictures is actively developing plans to relaunch a new movie franchise based upon Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles, which was previously adapted as Interview with the Vampire, starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise and Queen of the Damned, starring Stuart Townsend (playing Lestat, the same vampire played by Tom Cruise). First off, I should say that I actually think this might be a good idea. Twilight is making vampires popular with young people again, and so sure, why not revive Anne Rice’s vampires? They basically did the same thing (romanticizing vampires) as those Twilight books, and they did it first and possibly better. What makes this the Rotten Idea, however, is the next part of the story, which is that Universal is reportedly in talks with Robert Downey, Jr. to take over the role of the vampire Lestat. At issue here is Downey’s age, which is 44. If you figure it will take a few years to get this project developed (since there’s currently no script), that’s going to make Downey close to 50 by the time this movie gets made. I think Robert Downey, Jr. is a great actor, but the vampire Lestat is supposed to be eternally young, and credible as the lead singer of a 1980s goth rock band. That, unfortunately, is something that I don’t think even Robert Downey, Jr. could credibly pull off at this stage in his life. So, unfortunately, I’m going to have to say that I think it would be better if Universal went with someone a lot younger, who will be able to age with the franchise. Besides, Robert Downey, Jr. already has two franchises, Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes, which are likely to keep him busy for years.
For more Weekly Ketchup columns by Greg Dean Schmitz, check out the WK archive, and you can contact GDS through his MySpace page or via a RT forum message.
