Last week we reported on a well-known property from the 80s that was undergoing a 21st century polishing, ready for the remake-saturated market.
This is nothing new, and news of remakes, reboots and revisitings (revisitations?) are more and more commonplace as studio rummage through back catalogues for an idea or a name which will guarantee an element of infamy or nostalgia. Whether the films are remembered with imperfect or total recall they are being scooped up and thrown at the reboot wall to see what sticks.
When news broke that Universal wanted to remake the 80s film Firestarter, and to turn it into a franchise no less, eyebrows were raised and questions followed. How far would this reboot of the Stephen King source material, consistently described by the remakers are ‘edgy’, differ from the original, and what makes it worthy of this new attention.
Director of Firestarter and Commando, both of which are getting the reboot treatment, Mark L. Lester, kindly gave us his reaction to the news.
It’s a great compliment and proof the movies have become classics worthy of remakes. I hope they do a good job on them. It seems that Hollywood is continually redoing films from the past, sometimes it’s a success and other times it’s not.
I don’t think the industry has run out of original ideas; there is a lot of great material yet to be made. In this economic climate, I believe the studios feel that remakes and branded entertainment are less of a risk. It is the safer bet for them since there is already a built in audience. Commercial appeal has a lot to do with it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a remake of ‘Class of 1984’ or maybe even ‘Armed & Dangerous’ starring Jack Black.
He also confirmed that he hadn’t been approached by the studios in connection with the projects, but if Jack Black signs up for Armed & Dangerouser I’m hoping Lester gets the call.
