Three more Hollywood Remakes from the 80's. Three!
What do you want me to say? You already know how much I hate that Hollywood keeps remaking films that don't need to be remade. So here are what the trades are reporting:
Romancing the Stone
What the hell for?
Fox is bringing "Romancing the Stone" to the big screen again, swinging into development a remake of the 1984 adventure movie and tapping Daniel McDermott to write it.
The original movie helped launch Robert Zemeckis as a director, turned Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito -- then best known for their TV work -- into film stars and established Kathleen Turner as a romantic lead.
Written by Diane Thomas, "Romancing" told the story of a repressed romance novelist who travels to Colombia to find her missing sister only to meet up with an American soldier of fortune. The two embark on a cross-country adventure involving a map, a jewel and a private police force. Thomas wrote the script while working as a waitress in Malibu. It turned out to be her only produced screenplay; she died in a car crash the year after the film's release.
They Live
There is no point! Bastards!
"They Live" is finding life again.
John Carpenter's cult 1988 film is getting the remake treatment from Universal and studio-based Strike Entertainment, which are in negotiations to acquire the film rights with rights holder Les Mougins.
Strike's Marc Abraham and Eric Newman will produce, while Shep Gordon of Les Mougins and Carpenter will serve as executive producers.
The original film, part sci-fi thriller and part social satire, told the story of a down-on-his-luck construction worker (Roddy Piper) who discovers glasses that let him see aliens walking among us and controlling humanity. The man races against the clock to find a way to stop them.
The movie is known for a fight scene that lasts 51⁄22 minutes and for the line, "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass ... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
Aurthur
Now things are just getting silly.
Russell Brand might soon be caught between the moon and New York City.
The British comedian is developing a remake of "Arthur," the 1981 comedy that starred Dudley Moore, for Warner Bros. as a potential starring vehicle.
Brand is meeting with scribes to write the screenplay, which will be produced by MBST's Larry Brezner, whose credits range from "Good Morning, Vietnam" to HBO's recent "Little Britain USA."
The original movie followed a boozy playboy rascal who is set to inherit a fortune if he marries an heiress his family thinks will make something out of him. However, he falls in love with a working-class woman and turns to his valet for help when his family makes him choose between money and love.
Moore was nominated for an Oscar as was Steve Gordon, the film's writer-director. John Gielgud, who played the valet, won the best supporting actor Oscar, and the movie's theme song, "The Best That You Can Do," won for original song.
It is really sad that these are the types of films we have to look forward to in the future. None of these will live up to what the original movies were.