Last Friday, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news about J. Michael Straczynski writing a "remake" of FORBIDDEN PLANET for producer Joel Silver. Today, we have additional info that indicates this is not so much a "remake" as a complementary piece to the Fred M. Wilcox/Cyril Hume classic.
According to Harry, Straczynski's screenplay will essentially act as if Altair 4 didn't blow up. (HARRY HERE: Actually, I don't know that - that is what they're doing, only that my source said it would be less of a remake and more of a continuation. What I told Beaks was, so I "guess" that'd be if they act like the planet didn't blow up in the original film. Sorry for the confusion) We don't have much in the way of story details, but we do know that Straczynski was not shy about paying homage to FORBIDDEN PLANET in BABYLON 5, so it's not a surprise that he would want to honor the integrity of Wilcox's visionary film.
As for the look of the film, it will apparently be an "enormous, giant, retro sci-fi movie"; in other words, they're going to implement the design of the original rather than attempt something modern. As Harry said, nothing "sleek or chromy" like Fox would do. (HARRY HERE: In fact my source says that Robby The Robot as we know him, will be implemented in the film.)
We do not know who is directing just yet, but, for now, it sounds like Silver and Straczynski are doing right by FORBIDDEN PLANET.
In other JMS news, you might be interested to know that he just completed his rewrite for THOR.
