Nordling here.
Terry Gilliam's TIME BANDITS is, without a doubt, a classic children's film. We all know this. For one thing, there's a sense of actual danger in it, too rare in children's films these days. It trusts kids to handle thematically rough material. Most family films sugarcoat darker issues of death and loss. Not TIME BANDITS. It will definitely be on my YOU KNOW, FOR KIDS column, especially in light of this news.
According to Variety, we're getting the reboot for TIME BANDITS. Former Handmade Films execs Guy Collins and Michael Ryan are in talks with a Hollywood co-producer to redo the Gilliam film as, and I quote, "a bigscreen kids action franchise." I'm not quite sure how that works, as the original TIME BANDITS is already pretty much perfect as a standalone, but I'd imagine they'll have young Kevin traveling through the past with his merry band of little people, exploring the map and trying to escape Evil.
If they're going to reboot this, they better get Gilliam involved in some capacity, although knowing him he'll likely want nothing to do with this. Otherwise they'll have serious fan outrage. And if they're going to cast Evil, they better aim high if they don't get David Warner. He's one of the few actors who could sell a line like "Nipples for men!" with such contempt, and I honestly don't know who they could get to make that role work nearly as well. And they better cast real little people and not shrink them digitally. As Napoleon said, "That's what I like! LITTLE THINGS HITTING EACH OTHER!"
Nordling, out.
