FantasticVoyage Tagged Articles at Cinematical

So it's no big surprise that the 1966 sci-fi classic Fantastic Voyage is headed for a remake. Back in August, Scott had given us the news that Roland Emmerich had signed to not only produce, but direct a big-budget update for 20th Century Fox. Empire Online recently sat down with Emmerich to chat about what he might have planned for his update. As it turns out, it's still going to be the same story about a team of scientists who are miniaturized and then injected into a dying man to save his life -- but with a few minor changes. Emmerich tells Empire, " I said why have you put this in the future? I said let this happen now. It's so much more cool and fun when we can say to a normal person from now, 'well we're going to make you microscopic and put you in some submarine which we will shrink down and you have to do this stuff inside a body.'"

As it turns out, Emmerich was attached to the film fifteen years ago, but later abandoned it to work on other projects. Later on, action heavyweight James Cameron had drafted a script, but according to Empire, Emmerich has since toned down some of the 'rah-rah' militarism in Cameron's version. Emmerich also lost Cameron's idea of an extra 'submarine' that Emmerich dismissed as being, "...like a Navy SEALS film". The bad news is that now The Wibberleys (Marianne and Cormac) are in charge of the re-write, and they are responsible for some truly lackluster flicks. Emmerich is currently wrapping up production on his latest epic, 10,000 BC, and Fox has plenty of films lined up before the strike hits, so I doubt Voyage will be receiving the rush treatment any time soon.

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.

One movie we can all thank God didn't happen is McG's Superman movie. But he's been given another chance to upset comic book fans, though not on as big a scale. According to IESB.net, McG has replaced Peter Berg as director on The Losers, an adaptation of the DC/Vertigo title that was a remake of an old WWII-based comic. The updated version features a group of anti-hero ex-special forces soldiers who go to war against the CIA after being betrayed and abandoned. Yes, this sounds a bit like The A-Team, and there is even mention of the similarity on the comic's Wikipedia page. Maybe 20th Century Fox can get their A-Team movie going and the two titles can compete against each other.

As if one studio signing McG isn't enough, IESB.net also reports that Fox is looking to hire the Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle director for the remake of The Fantastic Voyage. For those unfamiliar with the original, a sci-fi classic, it follows the story of a submarine crew shrunken small enough to enter the body of a dying diplomat in order to save him. It also won two Oscars, for visual effects and for art direction, which the new version will probably not receive. Currently, McG is also attached to the comedy Me and My Monster, which is sounds a bit like Little Monsters.