Day The Earth Stood Still... A REMAKE!??!

[MA-Caver]

Now wait a minnit. On another thread we were talking about how Hollywood needs to revamp it's remaking policy and start coming up with some new stuff. But Nooooo They're going to take some of those great classics and remake 'em. Oh sure they did it with War Of The Worlds (and terribly I might add) but that was inevitable. Was this inevitable as well?
Keanu Reeves is slated to play the part of Klattu (will Ahnold play Gort?) the other planetary doomsayer with a not so friendly "shape up or get fried" message to the warring powers on earth.
Here are a couple of articles.
http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/08...aatu-in-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-remake/

http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/03/22/re-imagining-of-day-the-earth-stood-still-channeling-matrix/

I hope that this won't turn into a runaway train of other remakes of other great Sci-fi classics that shouldn't be touched! A couple of my favs that haven't been remade. The Thing is a remake (and not that bad either).

Forbidden Planet
When Worlds Collide
Them!
It Came From Outerspace!

 

[MA-Caver]

Oh and if it ain't enough... They're remaking Clash Of The Titans!
http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/04/16/clash-of-the-titans-remake-being-written-by-lawrence-kasdan/

 

[Xue Sheng]

Maybe they will remake plane 9 form outer space too

I agree however that Hollywood should leave old classic movies alone and show some originality for a change.

 

[arnisador]

I hope that this won't turn into a runaway train of other remakes of other great Sci-fi classics that shouldn't be touched! A couple of my favs that haven't been remade. The Thing is a remake (and not that bad either).

I like the John Caropenter version of The Thing (I've seen both), butthis doesn't sound promising.

Oh and if it ain't enough... They're remaking Clash Of The Titans!

Shoot me now.

 

[CoryKS]

I always thought Citizen Kane needed a modern reworking. It could have been a decent story if it weren't for the no-talent assclown behind the camera. And color. Lots and lots of color.

*ducks*

 

[Xue Sheng]

Some how when I think of any movie (including Bill and Ted) that Keanu Reeves has ever done I just cringe when I think of him delivering the line "Klaatu barada nikto". But then my mind wanders on over to the Army of Darkness and then it is forgotten

Maybe, just maybe, my Keanu can pull this off. Yeah, and maybe I'm a Chinese jet pilot.

 

[ackks10]

Maybe they will remake plane 9 form outer space too

I agree however that Hollywood should leave old classic movies alone and show some originality for a change.

ok wait a min, i have an old shower curtain i can give them:roflmao:

 

[Andy Moynihan]

Gasp.

Shock.

Surprise.

 

[grydth]

Given Reeve's emotional range, he'd have been far better cast as Gort, the robot.

I wonder when we are going to stop seeing movies of the baby boomers youth recycled (apropos for this remake), and see something, um, er, original.

I love profit and preachy driven politikally korrect remakes.... wonder what happens to the kids who toss their BK bag under the saucer.....

Better quit now, if I said what I really thought, it's be bye bye Miss American Pie.... hey, isn't it time for......

 

[Steel Tiger]

This not good news. The remakes that are coming out of Hollywood recently suck. There is either too much reliance on CGI or you get an ego maniac director who thinks he can do a better job than the original story writer. Often you get both. And the suggestion of old wooden head as Klatu, please!

The Day the Earth Stood Still
Forbidden Planet
When Worlds Collide
Them!
It Came From Outerspace!
Thing From Another Planet

These are awesome old films that do not need to be remade. What current directors and producers need to do is study them to see how to make a good film. The original Thing From Another Planet) was not a close adaptation of the story Who Goes There? (Carpenter's was much closer) but the film had never before seen elements - actors using natural dialogue rather than waiting while each delivered their lines, one of the first burning man scenes (and the light from the burning man was all that illuminated the entire scene).

Remaking Clash of the Titans? Sure, why not? The original was not that good. Though I would suggest that they go back to Harryhausen's Jason and the Argonauts to see how to put together an ancient Greek adventure story.

 

[MA-Caver]

Well given the cheesy-ness of the special effects then it's a small wonder that there are those who can probably do better... and they can...in the EFFECTS dept.
I mean Jackson's King Kong was WONDERFUL in it's special effects! Hands down... but I had Ceicei's kids watch the original 1933 version and while they laughed a bit at the stop-motion Kong and the effects of the day (which I explained to them were TOP of the line back then!) they still said and it didn't surprise me at all... they liked the story line of the 1933 better. That very little time (five to 8 minutes) was taken to get to the Island whereas with Jackson's version a whole 45 minutes was wasted IMO, which made the film tedious to watch. He should've saved that for the DVD version. The kids also liked the Robert Armstrong portrayal of Carl Denham better than Jack Black's take on the man.

Cruise's fiasco of his remake of War Of The Worlds really got me turned off on the idea of hollywood even touching the other classics.
I have wondered however that IF they stick to the original script that a revamped THEM! wouldn't be too bad. Admittedly the ants in the original movie weren't all that scary to me when I first saw it on tv as a kid. But the story definitely grabbed me, I remember that.

Also found out that Lon Chaney Jr's star making vehicle "The Wolfman" (1941) is getting remade as well. Sure some top-notch names are in it. Hugo Weaving, Bianco De Toro as Larry Talbot and a couple others... But... I watched the original not too long ago on blessed DVD and found it's still a great film with a good story.

How long before other Universal Monsters will get the upgrade? Creature from the Black Lagoon? The Mummy has already been done (which admittedly is a great flick), Invisible Man / Hollow Man... not so great. The Draculas and Frankensteins have been overkilled too many times to count.

But yeah the old Sci-Fi Classics... Check out these memories: http://www.cinemacom.com/50s-sci-fi-BEST.html http://www.cinemacom.com/50s-sci-fi-REST.html

 

[Sukerkin]

I throw my hat in the ring with you gentlemen on this - and am gratified to find so many fans of "Them!" here; I love that film.

At present we're going through a period where the methods of film making have overwhelmed the story-telling aspects. The effects in the latest War of the Worlds were brilliant and some of those effects scenes were chilling in the extreme if you're a humanist like me. They really dropped the ball when it came to the story tho' - tell it in period and in the right country for crying out loud!

Sorry - deep breaths - must not be incensed about desecrating the work of legendary Sci-Fi authors (I have to confess I did a thesis on Wells so I'm a bit 'touchy' when it comes to the films of his work ).

 

[Steel Tiger]

Sorry - deep breaths - must not be incensed about desecrating the work of legendary Sci-Fi authors (I have to confess I did a thesis on Wells so I'm a bit 'touchy' when it comes to the films of his work ).

I don't think you should be sorry. I am staggered by the audacity of some directors who think that can rewrite the works of people like Wells, and Shakespeare for that matter.

Many of these fantastic old Sci-Fi films came about as a direct result of the cold war, with the substitution of an 'otherworldly' menace for the "Red Peril". This sort of thought does not seem to be put into film storylines these days. Why include a giant gelatinous blob when we can just have the hero shoot some Muslim terrorists? Its all been seriously dumbed down in pursuit of profit.

Just as an aside. In 1998 Anne Heche starred in a remake of Psycho. This remake was exactly that, a remake, not a reinterpretation. The original scripts were used. The result was basically a colour version of the 1959 film. It was not well received.

On the other hand there is War of the Worlds which had considerable success, but was a significant reinterpretation (as was Independence Day for that matter) of the source material. I guess you can never really understand the public taste.

 

[jks9199]

Sukerkin's comment about the storytelling tools overwhelming the storytelling is a pretty significant thing. Combine that with a nostalgia effect, and you get the "let's remake everything" approach. Someone remembers that movie that they watched, raptly, on a Saturday morning, hosted by a costumed local tv personality (see, for example, Dr. Morgus or Captain 20 among many others) and looks back at it. And they go "BLECH!" They're sure they can improve the story with a few tweaks and today's CGI and other film tools. (Or they can use those tools to make a cartoon into a live action story... like, say, Speed Racer. I'm not sure how well that's gonna work out... though Underdog wasn't bad!)

By the time they're through... there's little of the original left, and they've got something using the old name, but thoroughly disappointing.

(For what it's worth -- I see the same thing happening in books. I blame computers... because a manuscript on CD or thumbdrive is invisible, no matter how large. Typed out on paper... you KNOW how much you've actually written. And editors aren't removing stuff they, in my opinion, ought. Like maybe this side comment... )

 

[MA-Caver]

Inspired, I just watched "THEM!" on DVD. What I got from it was a straight forward story with just a bit of detail and dialogue parts (Dr. Metford explaining about ants and their ways... which was really interesting -- considering the subject matter). But no sex (unless you want to consider the leg shot of the leading lady in the story coming out of the B-25... was probably considered sexy back in the day), no language, not even "hell". No gore either, suggestions and quick shots of a dead body and a corpse under a sheet. James Whitmore in what (presumably) a scary shot of being grabbed in the ants mandibles and shook around... a modern movie would've probably have him cut in two with bloody and gory results.
Some comedy bits like, "make me a Sargent in charge of the booze!" and Fess Parker giving his story of ant shaped UFO's.
Some implausible elements like both FBI agent and Police Sargent dressing up in Army uniforms and launching bazookas at the first ant nest. Unless they were both former military (which wasn't explained but an unnecessary detail) and even then they wouldn't been allowed to dress up and fire military weaponry.
But all in all a very well done flick. Probably considered one of the best of the "giant" animal movies made during that period, remember the giant Mantis or Tarantula?

The only difference I think a remake would/should do would be to follow the Spiderman element. Instead of radiation to use genetic mutation of the ants. There are hundreds of military installations around the country that store chemical and biological weapons. Other than that they should keep to the same story line if it's a true-remake.

As for the others... hmm well I hope they don't touch 'em. But if wishes were fishes we'd never go hungry, (maybe tired of seafood but never hungry).

As for "The Day The Earth Stood Still" I guess the only thing we can do is wait with baited breath because it's coming and if it's marginally successful then others will follow.

Wonders what a modern-updated version of Robbie the Robot will look like? (shudders)

 

[Xue Sheng]

ok wait a min, i have an old shower curtain i can give them:roflmao:

I got the hubcaps

Keeping in the spirit of Plan 9 I guess the best comment to make about Hollywood remakes is

I'll bet my badge that we haven't seen the last of those weirdies

 

[Drac]

T.D.T.E.S.S is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITES....If they screw it up all the crusifixes and garlic won't save them from my anger...Why not Stallone as Gort??? Both have the same emotional range...

 

[Xue Sheng]

Why not Stallone as Gort??? Both have the same emotional range...

I was thinking more along the lines of Dolph Lundgren as Gort

 

[Drac]

I was thinking more along the lines of Dolph Lundgren as Gort

That would work too,,,

 

[JBrainard]

Oh and if it ain't enough... They're remaking Clash Of The Titans!

I'm going to start crying now...