I love when stuff like this happens: Armageddon vs. Deep Impact. 1492: Conquest of Paradise vs. Christopher Columbus: The Discovery. Umm, Vice Versa vs. Like Father Like Son. You know what I mean: When two very similar movies from two very different movie studios hit the theaters at just about the same time. And according to Variety, it looks to be happening again, this time with a pair of Greek Mythology-type movies. Of all things. We get none of 'em for two decades and then all of a sudden everyone wants to bang one out. It's good news for me, though. I love this stuff.

In one corner we have WB's Clash of the Titans remake, which will be directed by Louis Leterrier and written by Lawrence Kasdan. We all know a bit about Clash of the Titans, or at least I hope we do, so let's focus on the other corner: Here we have the very intriguing War of Gods, which Relativity Media is prepping for Tarsem Singh to direct. According to Variety, it's "a mythological tale set in war-torn Ancient Greece, as the young warrior prince Theseus leads his men in a battle against evil that will see the gods fighting with soldiers against demons and titans." Whoa. Yes, please.

Both flicks are looking to use the 300-style approach to bring their ancient worlds and creatures to life, both aim to start production before the end of the year, and both will probably make a whole lot of money. I mean seriously: We need more epics about Greek Mythology. Call me a nerd, but those stories are freaking cool!

Despite a resume full of fantasy and action flicks, Lawrence Kasdan will forever be synonymous with 'Boomer' movies like The Big Chill and Grand Canyon. But, this is the man who wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark and Return of the Jedi, so it's not like a script about giant robots and alien invasions is that big of a stretch. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Kasdan has signed to write the script for a live-action adaptation of the Japanese anime, Robotech, for Warner Bros.

The story of Robotech centered on a not-too-distant future where mankind has discovered alien technology called 'protoculture' on a deserted South Pacific island. Using the tech to build giant robots (well, what else would you do with it?), humanity is forced to fend off alien invasions looking to steal a little of that 'protoculture' for their very own.

Robotech marks Kasdan's second big fantasy project this year, after being tapped to write a remake of the 80's fantasy flop, Clash of the Titans. It's still early days for Robotech, but WB seems eager to fill up their fantasy slate for the coming year, so stay tuned to Cinematical for any updates that come our way.

A while ago, we received the super-awesome news that Clash of the Titans was being remade. Yes, I'm being sarcastic. So Travis Beacham wrote the first stab. Then, Lawrence Kasdan came along for a re-write. It looks like the Big Chill writer's script is the winner, and with no extensive rewrites planned, the next step was finding someone to helm this sucker. That honor, according to Variety, has been given to Steve Norrington. I'm torn. I still don't want this movie remade, but this could actually work, at least a little.

See, Norrington is the man behind Blade. That's a decent movie -- fun, vampy, and popular enough to spawn a few sequels. However, he's also the guy behind The League of Extraordinary Gentleman. It was the last film he hopped into the directorial chair for, and it was pretty craptacular. Considering the fact that it wasn't meant to be bad, perhaps this could be a blessing for the film -- no matter how serious they aim to make it, maybe it will still be bad and thus keep some sort of spark of the original.

One can hope, but it could also possibly be a stunning achievement that bears little resemblance to the original, or more realistically, something that Titans fans are disappointed with. We'll find out soon enough -- production is scheduled to begin some time next year. So, that means that the next step is picking Harry Hamlin's replacement. Any ideas?

In a case of truly uninspired filmmaking, Lawrence Kasdan is going to write a remake of the beloved, 1981 truly, terribly, wonderfully classic Clash of the Titans. Travis Beacham, who co-wrote A Killing on Carnival Row with Neil Jordan, wrote a draft for the film, and now the Mumford man is taking over to script the feature. Kasdan is the guy who long ago brought us The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark, before jumping into The Big Chill and The Bodyguard, and last writing the questionable Dreamcatcher.

No, no, NO! This has to be the stupidest movie move that I've encountered in a while -- since we had the completely pointless Psycho re-do. Remake the Brady's and make fun of them. Empower Charlie's Angels to be even tougher. Make a new Ocean's 12 for the next generation. However, do not rob Harry Hamlin's shining achievement in film, and one of the best goofy films we've got out there. Clash of the Titans is a cult classic partially because of out-dated special effects. Take away Hamlin and amp up the effects and what do you have? You've got the story of Zeus' son, Perseus. You might as well just make a new re-telling of the Greek legend instead of a remake of this specific film. Besides, you can't beat casting the epic Laurence Olivier, or the late, great Burgess Meredith. Step away from the project, Mr. Kasdan. Bubo doesn't want you to touch him.

I constantly complain about modern special effects, how CGI creatures don't look realistic enough, but I have to admit this is pretty hypocritical of me. I love the work of effects legend Ray Harryhausen, and his models were never believable. There was a lot more inventiveness and craftsmanship in his effects, though, and there's no denying that the films he worked on have a creative spark that many modern fantasy films lack. Sometimes I think that my preference for model work over CGI has to do with their tangible appearance, but then that doesn't explain my forgiveness for the composite shots in Harryhausen films, which typically appeared as flat as today's worst CGI.

Anyway, despite our now having films with great computer effects like Jurassic Park and Peter Jackson's King Kong, Harryhausen will never be forgotten. Earlier this year, the 86-year-old received a well-deserved George Pal Memorial Award at the Saturn Awards and he was celebrated in the documentary The Sci-Fi Boys, which screened at Tribeca. Now, thanks to YouTube, someone is presenting all of Harryhausen's creatures and spaceships in a chronologically edited montage. Check it out below:

Today we get an update on another remake of a really, really old movie -- the original was made way back in 1981. Warner Brothers announced their plans to remake the cult classic, Clash of the Titans, in 2002, when writers were hired to re-do the film. But either that script didn't happen or it's been discarded, because they've just signed relative newcomer Travis Beacham (he wrote a film that's in post-production, and another that's been announced, but nothing has yet been released) to do the job. According to Beacham, his version of the story will adhere to the same basic plot as the original, but in "darker" and "more realistic" ways.

More realistic?! Wouldn't that sort of ruin everything? People love Clash of the Titans because it's cheesy, and because the stop-motion effects, though great for the time, are so dated! Remaking it realistically totally misses the point -- who the hell wants to see the story told with fancy CGI and some good actor who's not Harry Hamlin?