Editorial Staff
If the pounds and pounds of incessant remakes that have filled the multiplex over the last few years prove anything, it’s that nobody wants to see a perfect good – and usually recent-enough – film unnecessarily redone with the same story and same characters… just new faces and new credit blocks.
It’s those reboots, the films that consider the fan base of the original and instead of xeroxing the original add to it by coming up with a new storyline set in the same world, that seem to be scoring more points. Look at the numbers “Jumanji : Welcome to the Jungle”, which honored the original, did. Even the “Jurassic World” films are set in the same, er, ‘world’ as the original trilogy of “Jurassic Park” flicks.
The films that revive the series with a fresh instalment that’s both it’s own unique thing while also playing as more of a sequel – with links to the original – would seem to be embraced much more warmly than the straight-up remakes. As we speak, audiences are dripping much more saliva for “The Predator”, “Top Gun : Maverick” and “Halloween” as opposed to “Child’s Play” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, because they’re not simply cover versions of timeless originals.
Sure, if a remake is called for – in other words, it’s been many, many years since the original and a new incarnation of the tale makes sense – like the update on vintage musical “A Star is Born”, which is reaping much praise as we speak, then great, but a do-over a film most of us still watch every few months? stupid.
Now, good news on a couple more projects that we previously assumed were remakes.
That dreaded “Big Trouble in Little China” remake we’re all fearing about as much as the next David Spade offering?
It ain’t a reboot at all.
According to Collider, the Dwayne Johnson-starrer will actually expand upon the story John Carpenter set up with Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) in the 1986 film.
Hiram Garcia, president of production at Seven Bucks Productions (which was founded by co-CEOs Johnson and Dany Garcia), tells the site that there’s no replacing Russell’s singlet-wearing hero – he will exist in the same world as Johnson’s new character.
“There’s a lot of things going on with [Big Trouble in Little China]. We are in the process of developing that, and let me tell you, the idea is not to actually remake Big Trouble in Little China. You can’t remake a classic like that, so what we’re planning to do is we’re going to continue the story. We’re going to continue the universe of Big Trouble in Little China. Everything that happened in the original exists and is standalone and I think there’s only one person that could ever play Jack Burton, so Dwayne would never try and play that character. So we are just having a lot of fun. We’re actually in a really great space with the story that we’ve cracked. But yeah, no remake. It is a continuation, and we are deep into development on that as well, and I think you’ll start hearing some things about that probably soon.”
So, having said that all that, is there a chance Russell might reprise his role for the film!?
In addition to “Big Trouble in Little China”, the recently-announced “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer” reboot – currently in development with 20th Century Fox TV – is also taking more of a ‘continuation’ route than pressing the reset button – and the fans, who were up in arms about a ‘remake’, are as thankful as a farmer in the wet season! According to the writer of the revival, the new series will be set in the same world as Joss Whedon’s original and furthermore, there won’t be any new takes on Buffy, Angel, Willow, Xander or any other beloved character. By the sounds of it, some of those folks might still be involved (Buffy, likely, as somewhat of a mentor to the new slayer).
”Midnight, Texas” creator Monica Owusu-Breen, who is putting pen to paper on the new series, hints that the new show will exist in the same world as the previous show – and will not be a complete do-over in the same sense that the “Buffy” series was to the 1992 film of the same name.
”For some genre writers it’s Star Wars. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my Star Wars. Before I became a writer, I was a fan. For seven seasons, I watched Buffy Summers grow up, find love, kill that love. I watched her fight, and struggle and slay. There is only one Buffy. One Xander, one Willow, Giles, Cordelia, Oz, Tara, Kendra, Faith, Spike, Angel… They can’t be replaced. Joss Whedon’s brilliant and beautiful series can’t be replicated. I wouldn’t try to. But here we are, twenty years later… And the world seems a lot scarier. So maybe, it could be time to meet a new Slayer… And that’s all I can say.”
With Joss Whedon serving as executive producer on the revival, one might say it’s a given that he wouldn’t go for a remake of his long-running and very, very popular series. He wouldn’t likely want to be involved in anything that expunges his original for a copycat version.
Aware of Owusu-Breen and Whedon’s plans to ‘sequel’ the original series, actor James Marsters recently revealed that he’s already spoken to “the powers-that-be” about reprising the iconic part of Spike – should he have a role to play.
“I am open to whatever Joss [Whedon] has in mind — whether that’s playing Spike or something else. I told him that a long time ago. Joss’s mind is always surprising, so yeah. I’m open to playing Spike if Joss is involved.”
Looking at all the old brands being revived, it’s strongly suggested Hollywood’s FINALLY realized that folks aren’t going for patchy remakes of classics anymore – so the “semi-sequel” is now taking precedence. In addition to some of the films listed above – predominately, “Top Gun : Maverick”, which sees Tom Cruise reprising a role he originated in 1986! – the coming attractions section of your multiplex website list everything from new sequels to “9 to 5”, “Indiana Jones”, “RoboCop”, and “Terminator”, with many more on the horizon.
There’s hope for you and the boys yet, Aykroyd.
