News Bites: The Return of Narnia and The Remake of 'The Thing'
Filed under: Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Scripts, Remakes and Sequels
Who cares about the box office? Narnia sure doesn't! Prince Caspian might have struggled to put an impressive number of arses in seats, and gotten unceremoniously dumped by Disney, but someone still wants those Pevensie kids. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Fox 2000 is picking up the tossed aside The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and wants to get it in theaters by the holiday season in 2010. Talk about a risky proposition. The last one wasn't only over budget -- it brought in a sucky box office. Who in their right mind would take on a struggling series and try to bring dragons and other beasties to the big screen while saving pennies in a bad economy? The warning bells, they are a-ringing.Meanwhile, The Thing is coming back to attack! But have no fear -- the man behind this might just make this a desirable remake. Variety reports that Ron Moore is writing a new treatment of the short story "Who Goes There," which was the basis for both Howard Hawks and John Carpenter's films. Who is Ron Moore? He's one of the executive producers of Battlestar Galactica, and has written most of the show's episodes. (He's at the top with 73, and the next closest are Bradley Thompson and David Weddle, each with 15.) Considering the fan mania and critical adoration involved with that show, if Moore can't make The Thing thrive in the 21st century, who can?
Finally, another girl is heading for a coma. Unfortunately, The Smiths won't be wishing her to pull through, and it's not based on Douglas Coupland's best book (yes, I said best). Even more unfortunately, The Hollywood Reporter posts that Girlfriend in a Coma is coming from Marco Schnabel and Larry Stuckey. Does that mean nothing to you? Schnabel directed The Love Guru, and Stuckey is the man who penned Little Fockers. Ugh. All that's being said about the plot is that it's a "satirical high school comedy that looks at an unlikely romance." Gee, could that be a girl in a coma? I think we've already covered that enough with Miss March.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-29-2009 @ 9:21AM
Ryan said...
I don't see how Narnia is "risky". The first one did very well for itself, and almost beat out its competing Harry Potter film. The movie just got dumped in an awful month, competing with Indiana Jones and Iron Man. I think, especially considering how the next to segments that will happen will be far more beloved than Prince Caspian is, that the series will do alright for itself and Disney will be hitting themselves in the head over this one.
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1-29-2009 @ 9:34AM
morphs said...
Don't forget how Prince Caspian is pretty much a must have for any HD enthusiast.
I am very happy to hear it got picked up.
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1-29-2009 @ 10:33AM
The Regula said...
I agree with Ryan, Disney tried to make Caspian a summer blockbuster and I knew that was a stupid move when they announced the release date, seeing that the first one debuted in december they should of kept it routine, so I think the next will do better than the 2nd and Disney will be kicking themselves for letting it go.
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1-29-2009 @ 10:46AM
Jessica Dillon said...
Not to mention, that while Prince Caspian underpreformed in the US, it still made 420 million worldwide, despite a poor release date. And that's not including rentals or DVD sales. Assuming the production and marketing made it 300 million to make, it still made 120 million, which isn't too shabby. With a better release date, I'm sure it will do even better.
It seems very much like the release of the Golden Compass. Perhaps if Dawn Treader does well, someone might pick that back up, too? Too much to hope for?
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1-29-2009 @ 12:36PM
Paul said...
Sorry to be nitpicky, but it's "Ron (or Ronald) D. Moore" (note the D) and it's "Galactica" (one L). He's more than one of the exec producers on BSG. He's the main force behind the creation of the current, "re-imagined" series. He was also chief writer on Star Trek: TNG for a while.
I say all this because there's more cause for optimism than this post suggests. The Thing is about dark morality and terror in an isolated environment. Ronald D. Moore has proven consistently that that's what he does best.
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1-29-2009 @ 1:44PM
Astin said...
Actually, David Eick was the main force behind its resurrection, bringing Moore on early for BSG. Yes, Moore has done most of the grunt work, backstory, and is largey responsible for its success and quality, but Eick got the ball rolling and was the main producer for the mini-series. Moore became a driving force once the series was picked up. And yes, I realize BSG isn't BSG without Moore's input.
Let's not forget that Moore was also key in the final two season of DS9 - the best written series in Trekdom, and has two of the better Voyager episodes under his belt. Along with First Contact and Generations (can't all be hits).
Oh, and the first season of Carnivale was his too.
And while I get the fact he is Ronald D. Moore, I somehow doubt people address him as such in everyday conversation.
Regardless, a Moore adaptation of The Thing could be really good. If the studio doesn't mess with his script too much.
1-29-2009 @ 1:54PM
geekwad said...
Reading back, that was pretty nitpicky. Anyway ...
About David Eick .. I just don't know about that guy. In all the interviews they do together, DE seems to be the guy who secured a lot of the funding and thought it'd be an awesome idea to have the space shaky-cam (which, I admit is at least 10% of the show's awesomeness) while RDM was the one who framed the show as intelligent political and social commentary and really "got" why creating the show was a good idea. RDM's writing genius is believably spinning his characters and plots around to keep a show as a whole unpredictable and interesting (The Dominion War and every season-to-season transition in BSG are prime examples).
1-29-2009 @ 12:46PM
RTMS said...
I agree with the others, Disney deliberately sabotaged Prince Caspian, hoping to dump it for the Mars project. I'm betting that if Fox sticks Voyage in it's Christmas time slot it's going to do great business and Fox will be giving Disney the finger in the end.
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1-29-2009 @ 2:39PM
vegimorph said...
they're remaking the Thing again? i thought just the John Carpenter one was enough. what are they going to do? remake the remake?
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1-29-2009 @ 9:36PM
Joe said...
I think this is great news I have enjoyed the Narnia series so far and the series get better as it goes on. So much so that the last book in the series will be great on screen if the series is still going strong.
I also think if Disney would have brought out Narnia during the Winter season it would have made lots. Almost every thing that came out then did not make much at the boxoffice.
Plus with no Harry Potter Disney would have brought in money from having no competition.
So I am happy to see Fox pick this. Seeing as Fox really has not been bringing many great movies out I see this will be a big hit for them. So I can't wait to see the third book on screen.
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1-30-2009 @ 10:37PM
Mark Roeder said...
I win because I want to see The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader. Prince Caspian was really good, better than the first one. It should have been nominated (and won) for best special effects, and it still made money, just not as much as Disney wanted.
It'll be expensive, but Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, if Fox does it right and markets it right, will have more appeal, partly because of the name. Plus a lot of the pre-production is already done and they have the same actors returning for Edmund and Lucy.
Fox didn't make very good choices last year especially with some marketing, but maybe this will help them turn things around again.
Disney will wish they had put more faith in Aslan.
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1-31-2009 @ 12:25AM
Riley Freeman said...
i knew nothing about narnia before i watched the movies and its probably something that u wouldnt expect from i guess my type
"black male enjoys hiphop"
but i love the movies and i want to see all of them be made. thank u fox. i dont get what cost so much money though its filmer in a forest. they need to bring down the budget. i also dont think releasing it for the holidays is good i think they should go for a march - may release
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