Details of an Awful-Sounding Reboot of Stephen King's CUJO
Here are a couple of things that you need to know about me: I am a huge Stephen King fan and I am not a fan of the remake/reboot wave that Hollywood has been riding for years.
With that out of the way, it appears that there is going to be a remake of the 1983 movie Cujo. As you may already know, Cujo is based on King's 1981 novel, and the story follows the wrath of a St. Bernard that was once a good dog who contracts rabies and becomes a non-stop killing machine. The book is great and the original movie caused me to be afraid of St. Bernards for years.
Here is where the problem starts. Film School Rejects received a press release giving all of the details of the reboot:
Lang Elliott, head of the original’s production company, Sun Classic Pictures, is set to direct a new version of the rabid-dog thriller, and unless he again gets Warner Bros. to distribute this (or Lionsgate, which put out the Blu-ray), it could very well be a limited or direct-to-video effort.
What’s interesting about the remake — or reboot, as it’s being called — is the title has been changed to the acronym C.U.J.O., which is said to stand for “Canine Unit Joint Operations” (IMDb lists the movie fully as Cujo: Canine Unit Joint Operation). That sounds like it will be straying more from the King novel, which was published in 1981. Could he be some sort of police dog instead of the one owned by remote car mechanic? Could there be a whole unit of rabid Cujos? Given that it’s referred to as a reboot, maybe Elliott wants a franchise, and so maybe multiple murderous mutts. Or just one really big one who isn’t immediately killed off.
The latest update comes via press release focused on actor DJ Perry (Ghost Town: The Movie) signing on to star. The character he’ll play is not revealed, though, and if you recall the 1983 adaptation the main characters consist of a mother (Dee Wallace), her young son (Danny Pintauro) and a killer St. Bernard. He could be the husband/father or the sheriff perhaps. Here is what Lang had to say about the actor in the release: “DJ Perry sets a new refreshing standard from the typical Hollywood actors. Besides being extremely talented, DJ does stunts, martial arts and can stop bullets with his teeth! He does it all.” That last talent will be good if Cujo is armed in this version.
Well, this sounds like a turd of a movie. Normally a reboot of this caliber wouldn’t make it onto this site, but this makes me angry and I feel the need to vent.
Like I said before, I am a huge fan of King's written works and I am tired of people making grotesque adaptations of his books. If you read any of his stories, then you know that King is a master wordsmith who gives everyone reading a perfect blueprint for a film adaptation. With that in mind, I have no idea why people go astray when producing these movies. Why mess with it? It’s like getting a recipe for a chocolate cake and using it to make a cherry pie. It makes no sense. People confuse me.