Now that he’s succeeded in resurrecting two of his own film franchises, Sylvester Stallone has apparently decided to pick up where another action hero left off.
Variety reports that Stallone is in talks to direct and star in a remake of 1974’s Death Wish, the film that gave urban vigilantism a good name, propelled Charles Bronson to superstardom, and inspired a series of increasingly ridiculous sequels. According to the report, Michael Ferris and John Brancato are on tap to write the script.
The Death Wish films, which initially took their inspiration from the 1972 novel of the same name by Brian Garfield, were never particularly well-liked by critics, but for a brief period, they performed well at the box office. However, by the end of 1985’s Death Wish 3 — which saw Bronson offing a criminal with a mail-order rocket launcher — the bloom was off the .475 Wildey Magnum, and by the time 1994’s Death Wish 5: The Face of Death limped onto screens, it was widely assumed the franchise had come to its logical conclusion.
Not so, apparently. But hey, at least MGM is mounting this remake for artistically pure reasons. From the article:
“We are looking at our library to determine which potential franchise properties make the most sense for us to produce, and ‘Death Wish’ was clearly one of that jumped out,” said MGM chief operating officer Rick Sands. “We hope to get a deal done with Sylvester Stallone to direct and star, and like the ‘Rocky’ and ‘Rambo’ films, we see this as another potential franchise for him.”
Source: Variety
