They're remaking ALIEN.

The original was remarkable for it's creation of the Alien, for it's amazing "alien" sets based on the Giger artwork, and the excellent cast as well.

I suppose one could quibble....The budget was not huge, and some of the effects and sets were lacking; but it also resulted in a nice "gritty" feel that went well with "cargo ship in space".

I dunno.....What are they going to do "better"?

They are also planning on a new theatrical "Buffy" release. This has been wanted by the fans for years; but no one is on board, even Wheadon.

Gellar has said "only if there's a really superior script"; and she's busy shooting a new HBO series and having a kid.
Hannigan is busy with her series... Most of the other principals are either busy or haven't been doing much. (Nicholas Brendan has reputedly been having "bottle" problems)

I don't know about that either. Without the original cast....
 
silenthunterstudios said:
Terminator, while not a remake of the original movies, was a nice visit back to the franchise.
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I have to say I was a little dissapointed with the new Terminator film, I did enjoy it I suppose but it felt alot like Mad Max meets Transformers.
 
jim preston said:
Some remakes are good. Star Trek and 3:10 to Yuma are both excellent movies.
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Wolf_1989 said:
Sometimes a remake is good.

The new Battlestar Galactica made the original from the late 70's seem like a parody.

The new Batman movies are IMO perfect.
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i dont think star trek and the recent batman movies can be considered remakes. more an extension of the series, and better than the originals.

mwerner said:
The original was remarkable for it's creation of the Alien, for it's amazing "alien" sets based on the Giger artwork, and the excellent cast as well.
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what makes alien special is similar to why jaws is still scary.

it wasn't about the monster, what was scary was the anticipation of the monster. and of course detailed and textured characters with meaningful exhanges of dialogue.



.....please dont remake jaws. the awful sequels were plenty.
 
I think that Hollywood has two major problems: A general lack of originality, and a knowing that remakes will make money. The first Alien was good; Aliens is an absolute classic that still stands today. Sure, the weapons the 'marines' carry are way too big, and the technology seems dated now, but you can't remake a great movie like Aliens.

I've seen both the original The Thing and John Carpenter's The Thing, and IMO Carpenter's version is actually way better. That's another of my favorites.

At least three John Carpenter movies have been remade:
Assault on Precinct 13;
Halloween;
The Fog.

The Assault on Precinct 13 remake was popular, but it was a mediocre remake of an already mediocre film. I thought the Halloween and Fog remakes sucked. There was zero attempt at atmosphere; the remakes just go for the violence and as much blood as possible.

A whole bunch of Asian horror movies have been remade here; most from Japan (The Ring/Ringu, Pulse, The Grudge, etc.), but other horror films from Hong Kong (The Eye) and Thailand (Shutter).

There is a great Korean suspense film, Oldboy, that I heard is going to be remade by Speilberg and maybe star Will Smith. Oldboy is a film that I don't think anybody can remake. It's one of the best and most shocking suspense movies ever and already a huge cult favorite. Not to mention, I'm not certain that Hollywood, or a star like Smith, would be able to handle the twist in the movie; 'nuff said.

Point of No Return (La Femme Nikita).

It's not just a story, but the spirit of the movie itself, when it's remade, that most of the time simply cannot be recaptured or equalled. There are exceptions (the new Star Trek, the new Batman franchise, etc.).
Jim
 
I think that with Terminator Salvation, they couldn't make too much of a gritty futuristic drama. They had to leave some hope with the audience. It might've come out too soft for what people wanted. I really wanted a Mad Max (the first one) feel to it, and kind of got that. IMO, the next one will have to be really dark.

Remember the scene in the first Terminator, when Reese goes to the safe location, and the kids are catching rats, people are huddled around a burning tv for warmth, etc. That was a really dark point in the movie.
 
the thing about Batman and Star Trek is that all the movies, even the ones with the TV cast, were based on pre-existing material, and there's a LOT of material there, so multiple movies can be made based on it without any being "remakes" of the previous ones. But horror is a bit different. how much more can really be done with ALIEN, Predator, or any of the others in the line-up that hasn't already been done. Rob Zombie, whatever you think of his Halloween, really did something different with the character, and from what i've read about RZ(which aint much mind you) H2 he's taking it even further.
 
Canon wise, I would have preferred to have seen the Aliens Vs Predator comic, the one from the 80's, made into a movie.
 
The thing about remakes is that they are largely done from a non-creative basis. What i mean by that is that it is not often that there is a creative force behind the remake. Instead there is a business decision. I know all movie making is business, but there is a difference in Remaking The Thing, and Remaking say...The Grudge, The Eye,...

As an idea, or process i am all for remakes. Think of it like a cover song. A few examples: The Cardigans covering Iron Man by Black Sabbath, Chris Cornell covering Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, and there are more examples i cannot think of immediately. They all share the same quality. They are the same thing but almost unrecognizable. I love the idea of taking the same elements and telling basically the same story but it looks/feels/sounds....different. The kinda thing that you can really tell that the story is in someone elses hands now. Some more examples. Before the new Star Wars Movies came out, i think it would have been brilliant to remake those movies with a whole new non-Lucas sensibility. Imagine Darth Vader looking like General Grievous and Luke learning that this big obviously inhuman thing was all that was left of his Father.

Now, i agree with pretty much everything said against Remakes here so far. It IS all basically true. The percentage of non-suck remakes is so low as to be nigh invisible. But they are there. Back to The Thing. What an incredible Remake! Whole new theme and horror element to play on for a whole new audience. Same thing with The Fly. However, these are the exceptions to the rule. Still...i always hope and pray for some mad genius to come along and do something wild and amazing. I get disappointed alot. In fact that is a good four word description of my movie going. Anyway...If you don't agree and think i am talking nonsense, well...you may be right. After all, i did rather enjoy Anaconda. You gotta love Jon Voight's shitty accent from nowhere. Let me close by saying what i think the real problem is. Sequels! aaarrrrrgggghhhh! I can't even talk about it.
 
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Sequels are pretty bad for the most part. But there are some good ones

Terminator 2, Aliens, Empire Strikes Back
 
James Y said:
There is a great Korean suspense film, Oldboy, that I heard is going to be remade by Speilberg and maybe star Will Smith. Oldboy is a film that I don't think anybody can remake. It's one of the best and most shocking suspense movies ever and already a huge cult favorite. Not to mention, I'm not certain that Hollywood, or a star like Smith, would be able to handle the twist in the movie; 'nuff said.
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First, :thumbup: movie.
Second, I totally agree with your statements. The words when pigs fly are running through my head. Spielberg and Smith just don't do deep emotional conflict that can't be soundbited.



I think there should be a distinction between re-make and new-make. Battlestar Galactica is a fantastic example for me of taking a story language, a basic plot and so on and making a new wonderful self-standing thing with it. I haven't seen it, but my understanding is that that's what the creators of the new Star Trek have tried to do; for the most part they didn't even want to really acknowledge the past 30 years of Trek stuff, and rather go their own way.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
You don't think Lucas is full of sh#t when he says he had all 6 episodes planned out when he did the first Star Wars? :D
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I clearly remember reading the infamous scrolling text and it saying "Episode IV" at the top. I was a kid, I didn't know wth that was about as I was fairly certain that such a movie didn't come before.

I'm sure he didn't know freaks would watch the thing 100 times a piece and cement his lamo keister into movie tweaking for the rest of his life, but he surely hoped it would do well enough to pay for the rest/some of the story.
 
I seem to recall there being a discussion of nine (9) Star Wars movies planned back when the first came out.

As the years passed, I figured the project died.

I would prefer that "remakes" not be made. Credit the original such as "inspired by" if needed, but let the originals stand. Though I must admit that these crappy remakes must be increasing the sales of the originals. I bought the original "Rollerball" and "Italian Job" DVDs just so freinds could see what a good movie they are.

BTW - lets push for a remake of the Carpenter/O'Bannon flick "Dark Star". That could be improved upon with a real budget.
 
orthogonal1 said:
I seem to recall there being a discussion of nine (9) Star Wars movies planned back when the first came out.

As the years passed, I figured the project died.

I would prefer that "remakes" not be made. Credit the original such as "inspired by" if needed, but let the originals stand. Though I must admit that these crappy remakes must be increasing the sales of the originals. I bought the original "Rollerball" and "Italian Job" DVDs just so freinds could see what a good movie they are.

BTW - lets push for a remake of the Carpenter/O'Bannon flick "Dark Star". That could be improved upon with a real budget.
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Agreed. I've gone back and bought the original for 3:10 to Yuma. A great Glenn Ford classic but lacking the visceral impact of the modern version. Bram Stokers Dracula led me to Nosferatu, the original vampire film which was stunningly effective horror for its time. However filmakers could not obtain the rights to Dracula untill 1931 and each subsequent veresion of Dracula has had improvements on the previous whether it be acting quality, special effects, or adaptation - comedic and Nicholas Cage abominably acted atrocious accent versions notwithstanding.

Ditto on Dark Star as long as they keep the dark humor undertone......and lose the beach ball alien. There are a lot of cult classics I might enjoy seeing remade but I'm not sure with Hollywood's penchant for over the top special effects and over-acting they can be done effectively. Psycho was a good case in point. I doubt if Hollywood could capture the undertones and texture of a dark movie like Fade to Black with Dennis Christopher, Mickey Rourke, and Tim Thomerson. Some things should perhaps stay as B-Movies and be appreciated for the classics they are.




j
 
Any Alien remake will be a FAILURE!!!! A very successful, lucrative failure, but a failure nonetheless. And you have to blame the consumer as well as Hollywood. Put a yungin in front of the original Alien and they would claim it a snoozefest. Not only is Hollywood incapable of making an atmospheric, quiet movie anymore, but the audience, in general, wouldn't want to see it. And as it is, it's not marketable. You can't make that many Alien toys. To be honest, an Aliens remake would be alot less of a blasphemy than an Alien remake - a brainless shoot-em-up would be a closer facsimilie to Aliens, albeit a way less awesome version.

All that being said, I can't wait for Peter Jackson's remake of Dambusters! There's a dude with a lot of respect for the past.
 
zenheretic said:
I clearly remember reading the infamous scrolling text and it saying "Episode IV" at the top. I was a kid, I didn't know wth that was about as I was fairly certain that such a movie didn't come before.

I'm sure he didn't know freaks would watch the thing 100 times a piece and cement his lamo keister into movie tweaking for the rest of his life, but he surely hoped it would do well enough to pay for the rest/some of the story.
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I doubt you saw that in the theaters 1976. I think it was added when it went to video.

Paul
 
I feel pretty strongly about this, so I have to post again. I've got a great tagline for the remake:

In Space No One Cane Hear You Vomit

Evil Dead II was a great remake of Evil Dead.
 
I dunno. I'm ambivalent about the news. My favorite movie of all time (like many others here) is Aliens. Best. Movie. Ever. My all time greatest fear growing up was the monster from Alien- a friend of my babysitter's jumped in our window at a critical moment in the film (the first time I watched it- I was way too young to be watching that) and scared the hell out of me- scarring my widdle psyche in the process. I LOVE Aliens. But I won't cry when the inevitable sequel comes out. In fact, I'll line up to go see it. Even if it sucks, it will be interesting to compare it to the original. I just pray it's not TOO horribly done. Sometimes "reboots" are done well. "I am Legend" was the third film adaptation of that story, and it was done fairly well. "Rollerball" and "Death Race"(2000) were abominations of classic films.

Alien is a franchise. Alien films will keep getting made and remade until interest dies out- and another film comes along to reinvigorate it. I don't see anything sacred about the Alien movies. I think the films should be evaluated on their own merits. If the new one comes out and sucks- then it will be thrashed by all of the fanboys. But the original will still exist. If the new film sucks, somebody will come along eventually and make another until they get it right. And then it will go on from there.

Just like the Bond films. Just like Star Trek. Just like Star Wars. You know somebody will come along and remake the original Star Wars trilogy. It's only a matter of time. The new Star Trek was awesome.

The worst thing you can possibly do to a franchise is to do what Lucas did with the "special editions" of the first 3 Star Wars films (episodes 4,5 &6)- going back and changing the original versions for whatever stupid reason. My money is that he will shortly release a Blu-ray edition of all 6 films, with the original trilogy "re-remastered" back to the original version (no Greedo shooting first)- and he'll make yet another killing.

Think about how many times Shakespeare's plays have been performed- by how many countless casts. They can be reinterpreted infinitely and still be valid.
 
Hollyweird will probably screw them up like they did The Day The Earth Stood Still. :grumpy:

The Predator will probably be an interplanetary environmental agent coming to Earth to avenge humanities pollution of the planet.

The Aliens will be interplanetary environmental agents sent to Earth to avenge humanities pollution of the planet.

If they remake Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, the tomatoes will be interplanetary.....etc.
 
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