Roland "Big Budget" Emmerich to Helm 'Fantastic Voyage' Remake
Filed under: Action, Classics, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, 20th Century Fox, Family Films, Remakes and Sequels
They did it with War of the Worlds. They did it with The Time Machine. And they did it (again and again and again) with Invasion of the Body Snatchers. (Plus we keep hearing about new versions of When Worlds Collide, Logan's Run and The Day the Earth Stood Still, lord help us all.) So what's to stop, say, 20th Century Fox from mounting a brand-new version of Fantastic Voyage? Absolutely nothing. Seems that with all the classic horror titles being remade every two weeks, those clever producers are now moving into classic sci-fi titles. And guess who's been invited to direct...Yes, according to Variety, the man who gave you Universal Soldier, Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla, The Patriot, The Day After Tomorrow and the upcoming 10,000 B.C. -- Mr. Roland Emmerich -- will be helming the Fantastic Voyage remake for Fox. And if you haven't formed an opinion yet, I'll let you know that the latest draft comes from "The Wibberleys," also known as credited screenwriters on The 6th Day, I Spy, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Bad Boys 2, National Treasure and ... The Shaggy Dog. Emmerich and The Wibberleys. (Pause for dramatic effect.) Can't wait to see how this one turns out.
To those not entirely well-versed in classic '60s sci-fi, I'll remind you that Fantastic Voyage is about a team of scientists who climb inside a nifty ship and get miniaturized so they can travel through the bloodstream of a dying genius and save his life. (Just like Innerspace ... only first!) The 1966 Richard Fleischer film starred the likes of Edmond O'Brien, Donald Pleasance and Raquel Welch ... which means the remake will probably star Aaron Eckhart, Jack Black and Jessica Alba.
And whoever decides to remake The Incredible Shrinking Man is going to earn one strongly-worded blog-rant from yours truly. Darnit.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-16-2007 @ 3:52PM
Gator said...
The writers have written some of my most hated movies, but I like Emmerich's stuff. Hopefully he can tell a good script from a bad one and can make the appropriate changed. I think this movie has a lot of potential with updated special effects - it could be really cool.
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8-17-2007 @ 9:14AM
Michael said...
The only thing that saves this is that it is Roland Emmerich. Fantastic Voyage is definitely one of my fave Sci-Fi movies ever. It's right up there with with The Andromeda Strain and the original Planet of the Apes in my book. They butchered PotA and the jury is still out on the coming miniseries for AS. Let's hope that they can do this one right. One thing I agree on is that Gator's right: the potential is there for this to be an amazing film. The source material (both the Asimov adaptation and the original film) rocks. Let's hope this remake does too.
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8-17-2007 @ 9:21AM
Michael said...
Oh, and your comments about the remake starring Aaron Eckhart, Jack Black and Jessica Alba? No way. Aaron Eckhart would be good but Jack Black in the Donald Pleasance role? Uh-uh. As much as I would love to have someone like Gary Oldman in that role, the studios will probably pick someone like Kevin Spacey instead. Now I usually loves me some KS but he's already done the bald bad guy and sorry - it wasn't one of his brightest roles. As for Jessica Alba, maybe. She'd be great in that skin tight wetsuit (which is why Raquel Welch got the role in the first place) but frankly, I'd MUCH rather see another Jessica in that role: Jessica Biel!
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