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Four RKO Horror Classics Targeted For Remake!?!?
Merrick here...
Andy Fickman (SHE'S THE MAN, THE GAME PLAN, and Disney's forthcoming RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN) has worked out a deal to shepherd four remakes of RKO horror films classics, including titles originally directed by Jacques Tourneur and Robert Wise.
The remake properties are the Jacques Tourneur-directed “I Walked With a Zombie” (1943); the Robert Wise-directed Bela Lugosi-Boris Karloff starrer “The Body Snatcher” (1945); the Mark Robson-directed Karloff starrer “Bedlam” (1946); and the John Farrow-directed Lucille Ball-John Carradine starrer “Five Came Back” (1939).
...says THIS ARTICLE in Variety, which goes on to reveal more details regarding perceptions of & plans for the projects.
Here's a taste of the films being remade...
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+ Expand All
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whatever
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Go ahead, motherfuckers! Remake as much as you like. It only reminds us of how great the old movies were and still are, and how incredibly desperate and untalented you are.
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old hoodoo mysticism isn't gonna cut it today
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doesn´t feature Roky Erickson´s song with the same name it´ll be a goddamn disgrace...
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was a good one, if I recall. I saw tons of those movies on AMC as a pre-teen. Back then, before they were trying to be the cool kid on the block, their programming was awesome. That's how I fell in love with Chaplin films. It's how I saw Creature from the Black Lagoon. Also, there was this movie where locusts who had eaten wondergrow vegetables designed to cure world hunger became huge and overran Chicago. Anybody remember the name of that movie? That's always been one of my favorite atomic horror films.
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They will not be good films. Maybe if they cast Jeremy Irons for in the Karloff roles. That would work.
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when remakes have hit the point where nobody knows the films we're remaking, the financial benefits of name recognition have expended themselves. Basic creative principle aside, our content creators are making the same mistakes that led our economy where it's at. Let's stop telling stories on creative credit. Time to start reading scripts again, boys.
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The Departed?
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The Wiz?
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Scarface, The Fly
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The Thing, The Blob, The Hills Have Eyes (in my opinion, this is far superior than the original Hills). But, yes, remakes for the most part suck. And yes, this really has gotten out of hand.
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Five Came Back was remade (by the same director) as Back from Eternity in 1956.
Also, I Walked with a Zombie is arguably a remake of Jane Eyre. -
...and Stephen Sommers isn't involved.
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Fair's fair now. Scarlett Johansson as Ma and Steve Buscemi as Pa....
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Don't forget Jonah Hill and Michael Cera as Laurel and Hardy.
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Republican Ma and Pa Kettle.
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Oct 21, 2008 1:48:16 PM CDT
The Departed better than the original? You're nuck'n futts...
by memeovore
Infernal Affairs was a spectacular movie, and it was ridiculous what Hollywood did and how shameful the original was brushed under the rug. IA was just too classy. Not enough T&A&Violence for American audiences? bah.
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Yep, this name cracks me up every time.
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Now who would be an '00s Abbott & Costello?? Just don't make one Seth Rogen or Jonah Hill.
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The Maltese Falcon. It was made twice before. But I hope they don't remake these, because what they are really doing is just riding on the names of the previous films to get som exposure (such as what we are doing here). The studios don't really give a shit about "I walk with a Zombie" or "The Body Snatcher", all they know is that by remaking this critics and film nuts such as us will write about it, creating buzz for the movies. The average film goer doesn't know or care about these past movies, but he will be tempted to see them thanks to all the airplay and talk going on over the internet concerning them.
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Oct 21, 2008 2:02:31 PM CDT
So is this a remake of the original or a remake of the remake?
by stalin vs predator
After all, "I Walked with a Zombie" was remade as the surprisingly decent "Ritual" a few years ago. So?
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These old films need some CGI for a start. And a leading man of real charisma, like Nicholas Cage.
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GODZILLA movie?
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FUCK HOLLYWOOD & FUCK MICHAEL BAY!
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He sounds like the perfect director! GAMEPLAN is very similar and he did a spectacular job on that one, so these will be even better!!!!!
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get your rain-coats out...its gonna be pouring shit for the next 2 years. kidding...we sorta...until i see some rancid trailers for these oldies-about-to-become-newies. remakes seem to work out or stray so far from the source material its a wonder they call it a "remake"...there is very little middle-ground in that regard.
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...as much as we loathe the rape of old classics, we have to agree with you that not having that certain track from one of Texas' greatest sons would be damn-near criminal. The Rok has fans in the UK!
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You tube... All it takes is some lazy exec. 10 mins to trawl you-tube for some 'classics'...
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Good choice with Nicholas cage... but how about Mark Wahlberg... The guys got charsima coming out of every hole... I agree more CGI is needed also the addition of some shaky cam.. and watch the bucks roll in....
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The name of the Bert I. Gordon atomic age B-movie classic you are looking for is 1957's The Beginning Of The End, starring Peter Graves.
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I walked with a zombie.
I walked with a zombie.
Last night. -
Oct 21, 2008 3:21:45 PM CDT
I'd rather see throwback horror remakes than see another "saw"
by alienindisguise
give me a steady paced story with characters I give a damn about instead of shit editing and barrels of blood pouring out for 15 minutes at a time. That shit's too easy and played out.
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Its a better film then those other four.
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...thats all I can be arsed to rant at the mo...
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To follow it up with remakes of the Mummy ,Frankenstein , Dracula, the Werewolf etc.....what happened there?
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well said, I laughed when Sheen fell off the roof in The Departed, in Infernal Affairs I nearly cried when Wong falls. The original was hardly even mentioned on the extras.
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http://tinyurl.com/6hyhx4
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Tradition
A number of ‘Classic’ films from the studio period were remakes of older films that the studio had right on. Since there were limited places to see older films it was common practice to re-release older films that were big hits or remake them with newer technology.
‘The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Moby Dick’ was both considerable improvements over the pervious versions. John Huston’s ‘The Maltese Falcon’ was the third film version (within a 10 year period) of the novel.
Remakes are nothing new and do not indication of a lack of creativity (well not everytime). As with any film it all depends on how well the material is handled and if the filmmakers can craft something worthwhile.
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Retarded.
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These lazy ass retards...sitting on their ass in the shadow and former glory of the once great RKO. They're just sitting there, hoping , praying to churn out remake after remake from their awesome library of films. Fuck you guys. and RenoNevada2000 is right, this was announced a year ago, and possibly even before then. So I hope they can't find financing for these projects and that they'll be dropped.
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The Day The Earth Stood Still. Hell, I guess you could call JJ Abrams' Star Trek his version of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Will Hollywood stop picking the bones of Robert Wise.
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Almost no one does physical comedy anymore. Depp did his best in Beeny and Joon. However no one comes to mind that I know would be really good for it. A young Chevy Chase would have been good. Anyone remember when he was funny?
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I guess Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean would be the most recent pure physical comedy creation on screen.
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I'd wager what's left of my 401k (the paper, mostly) that Mark Wahlberg and Shia LaBeouf would immediately be attached to a JAWS remake as Brody and Hooper. Probably Jon Voight as Quint or something lame like that. Ah, remakes.
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If they want to raid the RKO library for remake material.
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You have no idea how lazy. The current holders of the RKO trademark are sitting on nearly 1000 of the studio's unproduced screenplays. I mean, I'm sure places like Paramount and WB have five times as many, but still...fucking lazy.
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...why do remakes of classic films that will only be unfavorably compared to the originals? Doesn't anybody READ anymore? If you want to do old-school horror, why not adapt literary works by some of the masters of the genre? H.P. Lovecraft; Algernon Blackwood; M.R. James; Arthur Machen; etc. -- a lot of these guys' stuff is even in the public domain! That way, they already have a good story, that they don't have to pay for, and there'd probably be just as much recognition of the title or the material as there would be for the old Val Lewton stuff.
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Adapting a classic horror story would require actually reading a book, something that no one in Hollywood ever does. i'll bet you that these remakes will have very little to do with the original film, They were chosen because they could sell the TITLE.(remember "House of Wax" from a few years ago?-no? well, neither does anyone else) I'm sure all they did was select the best sounding titles from a list.
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They didn't always have the biggest budgets, but their scripts were very literate, and they were the first to exploit the combination of sex and gore (both very tame by today's standards)in modern horror films. They also did some Lovecraft adaptations. Not great, but still watchable after all these years.
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I'm sure this can only be bad. I'm not crazy about "Bedlam", but "The Body Snatcher" is great, and "I Walked with a Zombie" is one of my favorite horror films ever, and I can only imagine the remakes will (a) blow and (b) completely lack the mood, atmosphere and style of the originals - especially Tourneur's beautiful work on "I Walked with a Zombie".
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How many teenagers from Myspace have even heard of the movie? How many would want to watch it? And they are the target of remakes. The only way they'd be interested in seeing "Citizen Kane" is if Jerry Thompson was an 18-year-old cub reporter on the trail of a way cool government conspiracy involving assassins who would chase him in black sport cars. And if he was played by Kane the wrestler.
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I have written something that is a lot of fun, different, but at the same time, is very familiar. It would be low cost to produce, say the cost of 4 to 5 one hour episodes of your average network crime drama, but has a high concept that is very refreshing, exciting and has enormous franchise potential.Nothing wrong with a remake, but how about creating something new that others may wish to remake some day???
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That's a word now?
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I agree with your idea about the Abbot and Castello meet.... but instead of those two unfunny guys, they should do like Method Man and Redman. Or Norm and Bob Saget.
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"Harold and Kumar meet Pinhead?"
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Would make an excellent Karloff! I always thought if they made a biography of Boris, Jeremy Irons would be a natural to play him. That being said... leave the damn original alone!!
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the Heston version is a remake of a silent era film version, others have mentioned The Wizard of Oz, and The Maltase Falcon, also Hitchcock remade himself with The Man Who Knew To Much
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FUCK YOU!
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try Amityville horror again. Nobody has ever gotten that shit right.
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I agree with you that remaking a film isn't necessarily an indication of lack of talent or skill, BUT only if you think the original film is lacking. Such as when John Houston thought the earlier versions of The Maltese Falcon missed the mark. Modern studios are only remaking these films because they know that they will have exposure and buzz from remaking a beloved film. They will get a year's worth of Internet buzz and write-ups from film critics and movie mags talking about another remake. It’s free advertisement and seeding in the public’s mind.
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Surely "The Haunting," "The Andromeda Strain", "The Day The Earth Stood Still" and another "Star Trek 1" were enough?
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As well Olivier's "Othello", Branagh's "Hamlet" - shit just about every Shakespearean filmed version you've seen has been remade a thousand times over. The 1960s Jeffrey Hunter Blue-eye-Jesus "King of Kings" was a remake. Suggesting remakes are a modern phenomenon or that they were somehow done for more noble reasons "back in the day" is rank ignorance.
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What possible spin could you put on a "lets do a series of interviews of a dead mogul and see what made him tick" that could possibly keep it out of the art house ghetto? I personally have zero problems with remakes ... primarily as I had no hand in creating the original, have no emotional attachment to it and don't understand this slavish devotion of the folks in the cheap seats to a past that, quite frankly, never was. Hell, if anything, they revive interest in the - lets be honest - long-mouldering originals - gets em put on the cable movie channels for a few weeks before and during release. I'd personally love to see a remake of the 1962ish 'Lady in a Cage' just to find someone else who has seen the film.
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You're using Shakespeare and the Bible as a basis for advocating remakes? REALLY?!Yea I know, as stated before DeMille and Hitchcock even remade their own works, but remakes were the exception, not the norm that hey are today.Again, REALLY?!
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REALLY
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That one's been troubling me for years!
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Not to belabor the point, just been to Amazon, you are correct, and I can't thank you enough. I am very happy to finally have found this film.
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Who has a couple of mil in exchange for an EP credit?
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Sometimes just the opposite happens though. Go to your local Blockbuster and try to rent The Hitcher. They'll carry the Sean Bean remake, but not the Rutger Hauer original. And that movie is just 20 years old.
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When they were trying to make that horrible remake of Day of the Jackal, Fred Zinnemann, director of the original, stepped in and pleaded with the studio to change the name. He knew that the new film would damage the original, and he was right. If that piss of shit didn't have its title changed to "The Jackal", whenever someone mentioned "Day of the Jackal" your first reaction would of been "what a piece of crap".
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A Lewton/Robson classic that begged to be updated. You take that property, you slap in a Keira Knightley or a Gerard Butler or a Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, add in a Frank Langella or a Ralph Fiennes, and you have got A) a psychedelic thriller in a mental asylum and B) a Victorian romance/suspense movie that is Oscar bait.
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