Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

Paramount is fast-tracking a Footloose remake, with hopes to start production early in the spring. After seeing the success of High School Musical 3, Paramount will have Kenny Ortega directing and Zach Efron starring, with Peter Sollett rewriting Jon Hartmere's script, and "the studio is working on new songs that will complement some of the memorable original tunes." [E: *sigh*]

J. Michael Straczynski is writing an update of Forbidden Planet for Warner Brothers.

Pascal Laugier is in final negotiations to write and direct the "re-imagining" of Clive Barker's 1987 Hellraiser.

Mike Nichols will direct Miramax’s remake of High and Low. David Mamet wrote the script based on Akira Kurosawa’s detective thriller (which was based on King’s Ransom by Ed McBain) about a businessman who is ruined when he honorably pays ransom to kidnappers who mistakenly took his driver’s son.

Chris Wyatt and Mark Altman are remaking 1963 cult movie They Saved Hitler's Brain as a sci-fi musical comedy. They’ll partner with the original’s Crown Intl. Pictures, with Jon and Al Kaplan doing the songs and book. “The original, set in South America, revolved around a secret attempt to preserve Hitler's brain in the hopes of raising a Fourth Reich.”

Samuel L. Jackson will play Sho’nuff in the The Last Dragon remake. “The updated plot will be along the same lines of the original, centering on young martial arts student Leroy Green in his quest through the streets of New York to achieve the highest level of martial arts accomplishment, known as the Last Dragon. Those who achieve the high ranking possess the Glow, making them the greatest fighter alive.”

Marvel's announcement on Avengers:
"THE AVENGERS will bring together the super hero team of Marvel Comics characters for the first time ever, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk and more, as they are forced to band together to battle the biggest foe they’ve ever faced." So Hulk ain't the villain then. Marvel Studios also made some confirmations about the Iron Man and The Avengers movies. Don Cheadle has definitly replaced Terrance Howard as Rhodes, not only for Iron Man 2, but has also for any subsequent Iron Man movies and The Avengers. As part of his four picture deal with Marvel, Robert Downey Jr. will be on as Tony Stark for The Avengers as well as Iron Man movies. Jon Favreau will direct Iron Man 2 and produce The Avengers. Favreau has brought in Genndy Tartakovsky to help with storyboarding on Iron Man 2.

Pulitzer-prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire is in final negotiations to write Spider-Man 4.

Sean Patrrick Flannery and Norman Reedus will reprise their roles as the McManus brothers in the Boondock Saints sequel, Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. Also returning are Billy Connolly, David Della Rocco, and Brian Mahoney, with Clifton Collins Jr., and JoJo Rhama joining the cast. Willem DaFoe will not be back.

Tyler Mane will play Michael Myers again in a direct sequel to Rob Zombie’s Halloween.

Joe Carnahan has confirmed that a Smokin’ Aces a prequel has been green-lit, and will going straight to DVD.

Paul Giamatti, who will produce, says Ron Perlman will play Elvis in Bubba Ho-tep prequel, Don Coscarelli’s Bubba Nosferatu. “[Coscarelli’s] actually taking a weird, interesting take on the whole Elvis myth and kind of investigating the whole Elvis myth in a really interesting way, so it’s got a lot of stuff about Col. Parker being responsible for a lot of what happened to Elvis and kind of literally making him a vampire in some ways, you know? A kind of a blood sucker… It plays on a lot of things, this movie, in a great way and it’s got Sitting Bull in it and there’s a peyote trip in it that is amazing and it’s just a big leap beyond the other movie. It’s ten times more insane and bizarre and it’s great and hilarious, too. It’s funnier than the other one is even. It still ends up being this great character study of this Elvis guy.’’…"Every effort was made by us, [Bruce Campbell] just didn’t want to do it and he was cool about it. 'He just didn’t want to do it, which is a bummer, because part of the reason I love that movie is him… a big part of it. He’s fantastic and I’ve always loved him. I’m a big fan of his, but he didn’t want to do it, which is totally cool."

David X. Cohen on final Futurama straight to DVD movie Into the Wild Green Yonder and the hope of someday restarting the show: "So we have the rare luxury of a writer who's experienced with writing the last episode of Futurama writing it again. So, in tone, we've gone for a similar approach, where if it is the last thing we ever do, I think we'll be quite proud of it, and it will serve us well as the last episode ever. But we leave ourselves a thin ray of hope in the story--and in real life--of returning." It'll come out in the spring.

Director Rob Cohen on xXx 3, "Yes, they're doing it with me and producer Joe Roth. We made the deal recently, it's named xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. We met the writers yesterday and we're trying to get into production by late spring, to have it out for the summer of 2010."

Chris Nolan on returning for another Batman movie:
“Is there a story that’s going to keep me emotionally invested for the couple of years that it will take to make another one? That’s the overriding question. On a more superficial level, I have to ask the question: ‘How many good third movies in a franchise can people name?’ [E: Right off the top of my head? Indiana Jones, Die Hard, Rocky?] At the same time, in taking on the second one, we had the challenge of trying to make a great second movie, and there haven't been too many of those either. It’s all about the story really. If the story is there, everything is possible.”

Universal is mulling over a third theatrically released direct sequel to American Pie.