I'm all for remakes, I really am, but if you're going to do it, can you at least take it seriously? While Ehren Kruger stumbled his way into the writing job of The Ring remake (a film turned into a gem by director Gore Verbinski) and slightly entertained me with The Skeleton Key, his credentials don't make me smile, especially after the painstaking garbage that was Blood and Chocolate (oh jeez, don't remind me). Now the genre vet is putting his fingers all over one of my all-time favorite movies, David Cronenberg's Videodrome. I won't be eating that anymore.
Universal Pictures will remake the 1983 David Cronenberg-directed thriller "Videodrome," with Ehren Kruger set to write the script and produce with partner Daniel Bobker.
The producers tracked down the rights to Canadian distribution vet Rene Malo, who will be exec producer. Universal distributed the original and had first refusal on a remake, and the studio snapped up the opportunity.
The original "Videodrome" starred James Woods as the head of Civic TV Channel 83, who makes his station relevant by programming "Videodrome," a series that depicts torture and murder that transfixes viewers.
The new picture will modernize the concept, infuse it with the possibilities of nano-technology and blow it up into a large-scale sci-fi action thriller.
Cronenberg has no role in the film as yet. He is prepping for MGM "The Matarese Circle" as a starring vehicle for Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington. Since Cruise appears likely to next star in the DreamWorks drama "Motorcade" and Washington has committed to the Fox drama "Unstoppable," "Circle" doesn't appear likely to get under way until later this year or 2010.
Bobker/Kruger Films recently set the thriller "Dream House" at Morgan Creek and is producing, with Matthew Stillman, "The Keep" for Rogue. Kruger co-wrote the June 24 Paramount/DreamWorks release "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.
Talk about missing the point. What a bunch of douche-nozzles. Don't touch something that doesn't NEED to be re-made/re-imagined/re-fuckified. Videodrome is perfect, just the way it is. Assholes.
I agree, I love a lot of remakes/rehashes/reboots. Take what Cronenberg did with The Fly for example. I think I could live with a Scanners revision... but this is unnecessary. Please just forget about it and leave it alone. It would be like remaking The Exorcist. This is a pointless exercise. If you need an updated Videodrome you just watch and enjoy eXistenZ!
Yeah, this wont be much good. A big budget, sci-fi blockbuster epic. Tis reeks of as someone said 'Minority Report 2'. You cant have a film like Videodrome and turn it into that kind of epic. It would be like having 'Hellraiser' starring, Tom Cruise, Helen Hunt, Samuel Jackson, George Clooney and Keanu Reeves.
It cannot be done. At leats i dont think so but let's see how it goes.
The original is only so-so. It gets high marks for being unique (which is certainly rare in Hollywood these days), but could it be made better? I dunno. I wouldn't be itching to see it.
"artsy-fartsy mess"? Really? I saw it when I was a kid and even then I understood what was going on. Social commentary is hard to pull off. Just ask Romero. The guy now beats us on the head with a shovel. Cronenberg is a slow burn. I guess The Brood and Dead Ringers are "artsy-fartsy", as well.
this put the whammy on me having a good Monday morning. I think the studios gave up hiring writers and just get monkeys to spit out rehashed ideas. Terrible, terrible, terrible...
Every time I visit this site these days,all I get is more depressing remake announcements.This one may be the one to finally push me ove the edge.I'm gettin' my gun and going postal.
The original Videodrome is one of those films that I like more and more everytime I watch it. The Criterion DVD is really worth the money if you are a fan. I agree with a lot of people commenting, this film isn't for everyone. I personally would say this is one my favorites. Why are they remaking this? I don't know how they can improve this. Remakes are starting to go too far.
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