Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. We tend to stick with actual movie stuff here at AICN. The constant exec shuffle and distribution partnerships and dissolves are the bread and butter of the daily trades, but we tend to find that kind of stuff... dry. We prefer to talk about the movies that come out of the system rather than the system itself.
However there's something to address in the news of Dreamworks looking at partnering with Universal when its distribution deal through Disney is up for renewal next year and it's something that has me worried.
Not worried for Spielberg's company, by the way. Dreamworks is great and it'll find a good home wherever it lands. I'm more worried for some of the strings that might come with this deal.
THR's story by Kim Masters has a throwaway section that could very well be assumption by the author or it could be some of what she's hearing as part of the deal. The line is thus:
”[Spielberg] also is key on potential reboots of other Universal franchises such as Jaws and Back to the Future.”
Spielberg has a lot to be grateful to Universal for. As he told me way back in the day, Jaws gave him final cut for the rest of his career and launched him as the powerhouse he is today. His ties to the studio have given us some of his most popular (and best) work including Jaws, Jurassic Park and ET.
What gives me a little pause is that Universal could be angling their distribution partnership to include his blessing on remakes/reboots of Jaws and Back to the Future. One of the main reasons we haven't already seen those reboots is because Spielberg has stood in the way and the studio didn't want to make an enemy of him by going against his wishes.
But what if he has a hell of a deal in front of him, one that ensures his studio and all its hundreds if not thousands of employees gets to thrive for many, many years to come... but tied to that deal is that he allow development of reboots to those films? What if.
Would he bend? Would he look at the huge success of Jurassic World, which is kind of a perfect rebootquel in that it's technically a sequel, but stands wholly on its own, and think “Well, maybe...”
I'd hope not. Those films stand on their own and it'd be a personal pain in my ass to have to put an asterisk next to Jaws when I talk about it being my favorite movie (“*the original, not the remake”), but more than anything I'd hate to see Spielberg be talked out of his gut instinct on these particular properties.
Universal wanting to develop these properties is understandable from a business perspective, but there are a few things you shouldn't touch. If they want to try to talk instead about doing a Jaws sequel I'd be less knee-jerk about it and apparently Spielberg still has an idea for a sequel even though he still hasn't told it to me, that dirty so and so!
This could all be worry for nothing and probably is, but if reboots of those particular franchises were to happen this is the path they would take.
I'm just grateful we haven't had to deal with any serious talk about these films being remade for so long. They will eventually happen, but I'm hoping we can still hold out for another generation or so...
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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