Caffeinated Clint
Like a mirror at a carnival, something in movieville has been blown way out of proportion in the past week.
Film fans were up in arms a few days ago over what was essentially a throwaway quote regarding non-existent reboots of “Jaws” and “Back to the Future”.
“Noooooooo!!!” cried purists like a dangling Skywalker in Cloud City.
So what’s the go here?
The Hollywood Reporter mentioned the possibility of new films in the respective series in their news item about Steven Spielberg possibly moving Dreamworks – from Disney – to Universal in 2016. Since both “Jaws” and “Back to the Future” are both Universal and Spielberg movies, it was presupposed that the studio would be keen on resurrecting those brands.
Yes, that’s quite likely. After all, Universal did very, very well when they took a punt and resurrected another of Spielberg’s properties (“Jurassic World”) earlier this year. But not only has Spielberg not agreed to take DreamWorks to Universal yet, but he likely hasn’t even had a conversation regarding continuing either of those franchises – and why would he? especially before any deal is done with the studio to port his place of business there.
While nobody, as far as I know, has come out and said they’ll never be a new “Jaws” movie, most of the creatives behind the “Back to the Future” series have said that there won’t be a reboot to the 1985 hit. As far as they’re concerned, the trilogy is gold and by touching it they’ll be potentially scarring it bronze. And Spielberg, one would assume, would probably feel the same way.
Bottom line, Spielberg doesn’t need to rummage through his filmography to see if any of his older films are ripe for a sequel or a reboot – he has enough original content lined up, and dozens of new projects in development to invest his time in. Why look back when looking forward works? Right?
If Spielberg does move DreamWorks to Universal, then by all means, the studio might suggest doing something with “Jaws” or “Back to the Future” or even some of the other Spielberg classics they have in the vaults – like “E.T” (!) – but that doesn’t mean the conversation will go beyond a definitive “nah, let’s not”.
