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James cameron's 1966 sci-fi movie remake gets surprising update 17 years later.

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• James Cameron's ​​ Fantastic Voyage remake gets an update after 17 years.
• The filmmaker says that he and his partner Jon Landau are moving forward with the project soon.
• It is unclear whether Cameron will direct or produce the project, though he will likely produce.

James Cameron's Fantastic Voyage remake has received a positive update after 17 years. In 1997, he previously expressed interest in remaking the iconic 1966 science fiction movie, in which a crew is shrunk down to microscopic size so they can explore a scientist's body in a submarine and remove a blood clot from his brain. While Cameron abandoned the project around 2007 to work on Avatar , he remained on board as a producer, though versions helmed by Roland Emmerich and Guillermo del Toro remained in production hell and were eventually scrapped.

Per Variety , the unmade James Cameron movie may still have a future after all. The filmmaker recently spoke about the Fantastic Voyage remake during a masterclass he performed at Paris’ Cinematheque Française, where he hinted that he and his partner Jon Landau " plan to go ahead with it very soon ." He joked that original star Raquel Welch, who died in 2023 at the age of 82, is " not available ," but he expressed his confidence in the project and their ability to bring it to life. Read his full quote below:

We’ve been developing it for a number of years, and we plan to go ahead with it very soon. Raquel Welch is not available, but we think we can make a pretty good movie.

James Cameron Is Still A Perfect Fit For Fantastic Voyage

Fantastic voyage plays to the iconic filmmaker's strengths.

Although Fantastic Voyage was adapted into an animated show in 1968, any other attempts to bring a follow-up movie to the screen have constantly fizzled out for decades. However, this update on the remake reignites the possibility that the movie could finally happen with one of the best stewards possible . It seems unlikely that Cameron intends to direct the project, as he has his schedule full with the upcoming Avatar movies , but even in a producer capacity, he is a perfect fit for the movie.

Avatar remains the highest-grossing movie of all time worldwide, with its sequel The Way of Water at No. 3 on the same chart.

Throughout his career, which spans titles including The Terminator , Aliens , Avatar , and Terminator 2: Judgment Day , Cameron has showcased his ability to bring bleeding-edge special effects to the screen, which is a perfect skill for reinterpreting this update of the iconic 1960s movie. In developing the project, Cameron could also bring his expertise in deep-sea exploration , which he has utilized many times, but particularly in The Abyss , Avatar: The Way of Water , and 1997's Titanic . In fact, it is likely no coincidence that the first news about his attachment to the project came during the same year as Titanic 's release.

James Cameron's greatest film remains 1997's Titanic, which lives in a realm far superior to that of his popular, yet severely flawed, Avatar movies.

By combining realistic effects with a truthful approach to undersea exploration applied to the human body, Fantastic Voyage could become an immersive thrill ride at a level that far exceeds the original classic. It still remains to be seen if the movie ever actually comes to fruition. However, Cameron's confidence in the project seems to imply that they are having active conversations about the remake, which could mean that there is more news coming on that front quite soon.

Source: Variety

Fantastic Voyage

When a blood clot renders a scientist comatose, a submarine and its crew are shrunk and injected into his bloodstream in order to save him.

James Cameron Confirms He’s Planning to ‘Go Ahead With’ a ‘Fantastic Voyage’ Remake ‘Very Soon’

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Gallic cinephiles gave James Cameron a hero’s welcome at a Paris masterclass on Thursday, ushering the action auteur onstage with a reception so thunderous that it shook the filmmaker’s oft-unflappable public demeanor.

“That’s the record,” he said in between laughs and in a show of uncommon giddiness. “That’s the record for the longest applause I’ve ever had in my life. Thank you. This is a high point of my career!”

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Dreams and Nightmares

While Sigourney Weaver flanked her longtime collaborator at the exhibition’s opening vernissage, “Proxima” director Alice Winocour stepped in to lead the talk. Still, the star actress remained a prime subject of conversation – leading to an endearing connection between the two filmmakers.

After Winocour said that she wrote many of her scripts sitting below a framed photo of Weaver as Ellen Ripley, Cameron revealed he had done the very same, writing “Aliens” for an actress he had yet to meet while taking inspiration from her photo.

And though the sequel’s visual universe built on the designs of H.R. Giger, the incoming director made sure to leave his own mark on the material by introducing the Alien Queen. “I think Giger was a little disappointed that we didn’t hire him,” said Cameron, listing off the various biomechanoid features that made the new villain such chilling addition. “But I had so many ideas about what I could do in that same area.”

“[I remembered a dream] where I went into a dark room with every square inch of the walls and ceiling covered in wasps, and I knew that if I moved or tried to escape, they would attack me dead,” he recalled. “Every horror film must go to the deepest and worst place in the subconscious [because] that’s the point. That’s what you to pay your money for.”

‘Avatar’ and Beyond

Given the event’s reflective and retrospective context, Cameron offered little new information about his three upcoming “Avatar” sequels. However, he reassured the audience that work on Part 3 is coming along for an intended late 2025 release and that the scripts for the subsequent volleys are finished, the designs nearly locked and 3D modeling just about to begin.

As for other pursuits, the filmmaker once again brought up his plans to produce a remake of the 1966 tour-through-the-human-body “ Fantastic Voyage ,” a project Cameron and his partner Jon Landau have toyed with for over a decade.

“We’ve been developing it for a number of years, and we plan to go ahead with it very soon,” Cameron said. “Raquel Welch is not available, but we think we can make a pretty good movie.”

Hope and Dread

Without giving any more specifics, Cameron perhaps offered a thematic clue when describing his appreciation for science fiction as a conduit for both hope and dread.

“Science fiction allows us to imagine futures that can emerge from our present day,” he said. “When ‘Star Wars’ came along, science fiction seemed to suddenly become very upbeat, [all about] entertainment and adventure. But the history has always been about warning, about the misuse of technology and the misuse of science.”

“Who gets to decide what’s good for humanity?” he asked. “Machine intelligence will only be a reflection of us. It’ll be us with all our flaws and all of our potentially evil intentions. Yes, that can be good, but the atomic scientists of the 1930s believed [they would unlock] an infinite power source that would abolish starvation… Instead we got Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Cold War. This is what concerns me.”

Taste for Risk

Reflecting on a career path that began with schlock before building toward some of the highest grossing – and most expensive – films of all time, Cameron saw a clear throughline in his taste for risk.

“The more established you become, the more you risk losing what you’ve already gained,” he said. “But I also think that the greatest risk you can make is not trying something new and different. There’s a tendency, when the budget gets bigger, to start to go for the lowest common denominator – and you cannot do that.”

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Fantastic Voyage Remake to Be Made ‘Very Soon,’ James Cameron Says

By Ryan Louis Mantilla

During James Cameron ’s appearance as the guest of honor at Paris’ Cinematheque Française (via Variety ), the legendary filmmaker gave an update on the remake of the 1966 sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage . 

Cameron had expressed his interest in producing the Fantastic Voyage remake since the late ‘90s but has since redirected his attention to one of his highest-grossing features, Avatar . The passion project has — to say the least — long been in development, with Guillermo del Toro having been confirmed to take the director’s chair back in 2016. 

Now, over eight years later, Cameron has brought up his plans to produce a remake of the original Richard Fleischer-helmed movie. 

“We’ve been developing it for a number of years, and we plan to go ahead with it very soon. Raquel Welch is not available, but we think we can make a pretty good movie,” said Cameron. 

The long-gestating remake is said to be produced by Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment, with David Goyer on board to write the script. 

What is Fantastic Voyage about? 

The film centered on a scientist named Jan Benes (Jean Del Val), who went into a coma due to an assassination attempt after he succeeded in perfecting the miniaturization process. To save him, a team underwent miniaturization in order to permeate Jan’s body and ultimately fix the blood clot in his brain. They all must work for a limited amount of time before the procedure wears off. 

The 1966 film starred Stephen Boyd as Charles Grant, Raquel Welch as Cora Peterson, William Redfield as Captain Bill Owens, Edmond O’Brien as General Alan Carter, Arthur O’Connell as Colonel Donald Reid, Donald Pleasence as Dr. Michaels, and Arthur Kennedy as Dr. Peter Duval.

The rest of the cast includes Barry Coe, Ken Scott, Shelby Grant, and James Brolin.

Ryan is a TV/Film news writer for ComingSoon.

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James Cameron Says Guillermo del Toro’s “Fantastic Voyage” Remake ‘Coming Very Soon’

The 1966 sci-fi film “ Fantastic Voyage ,” starring the late Raquel Welch , has left an indelible mark on pop culture. A proposed remake, launched by James Cameron , has been kicking around Hollywood since the late 1990s. Now, it seems we may soon get to see the project come to life.

Recently, Cameron was the guest of honor at La Cinemateque in Paris for a showing of his 1984 classic, “ The Terminator .” He was asked during a Q & A session after the screening about the long-gestating remake. 

“We’ve been developing it for a number of years, and we plan to go ahead with it very soon,” he said . “Raquel Welch is not available, but we think we can make a pretty good movie.” While Cameron is the one who has been pushing for the film, he will not be directing it.

Who is Directing?

Cameron wrote the screenplay after completing 1997’s “ Titanic .” He seems to still be actively involved in the project despite being up to his neck in “ Avatar ” sequels. In 2016, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro came on to direct the project.

del Toro has been hinting at possible progress on the remake. Last year he said that his next two films after, the currently in production, “ Dr. Frankenstein ,” would be the animated “ Buried Giant ,” and an unnamed live-action film. Given Cameron’s remark, it is now assumed that the latter will be “ Fantastic Voyage .”

The 1966 version of “ Fantastic Voyage ” tells the story of a group of scientists who are put on a submarine, shrunk down to miniature size, and injected into the bloodstream of a colleague. In hopes of removing a blood clot and saving his life.

We will keep you posted on updates about the “ Fantastic Voyage ” remake as they become available. We hope to see it before the close of this decade.

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Hi, I’m Amy. I like long walks in the graveyard, horror movies, comic books, and bringing you the latest in nerd-centric news.

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Fantastic Voyage

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Rent Fantastic Voyage on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

What to Know

The special effects may be a bit dated today, but Fantastic Voyage still holds up well as an imaginative journey into the human body.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Richard Fleischer

Stephen Boyd

Raquel Welch

Cora Peterson

Edmond O'Brien

General Carter

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The Most Bonkers Sci-Fi Movie of the ‘60s Seemed To Be Based On a Book — But Wasn’t

Slide, slide, slippity-slide. Let’s hit up Fantastic Voyage.

The 1966 sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage is probably more famous for what it inspired rather than what it is. From several parodies and homages (including South Park and the film Innerspace ) to the immortal Coolio song of the same name, the legacy of Fantastic Voyage — a movie about a miniaturized submarine getting injected into a human body — far outweighs any love for the film itself.

There are many reasons for this funny incongruity, but the mixed public perception of Fantastic Voyage probably started on February 26, 1966, when a print version of the story appeared in the Saturday Evening Post nearly half a year before the movie dropped on August 16, 1966. Serialized in episodic installments in the Post until March of that year, Fantastic Voyage was written by science fiction legend Isaac Asimov. Except it wasn’t. The book version was written by Asimov, but the movie wasn’t based on his writing. The script for the movie came first and then Asimov was asked to write a novelization based on that script. This led to many people erroneously believing that Asimov came up with the idea for Fantastic Voyage , even though he didn’t.

In fact, somewhat infamously, Asimov didn’t want to write the novelization at first, mostly because he felt the central sci-fi conceit — miniaturization — was too silly. Today we don’t remember the Asimov novel as well as the film, and there’s perhaps one good reason: The movie works because it still looks great and has aged much better than Asimov’s prose version.

In both versions, the story is this: In the ‘60s, a Soviet scientist named Dr. Jan Benes defects to the U.S., in order to give the country his latest version of miniaturization technology. Dr. Benes is gunned down right away by Soviet spies within the U.S., and as his life hangs in the balance, a secret branch of the U.S. military hatches a wacky plan. Using the current version of miniaturization tech, a submarine carrying a special team will be shrunken down to microscopic size, and then injected into Dr. Benes's body. Their mission is to use a laser to eliminate the blood clot in his brain, thus saving his life and, crucially, allowing him to tell the U.S. military how to make the miniaturization process permanent. Currently, the process only lasts for an hour on the dot at which point everyone will revert to their normal size. Don’t want to be inside somebody’s body when that happens!

The script was developed in the early ‘60s by Jerome Bixby and Otto Klement. At the time, Bixby had already written for The Twilight Zone , and after Fantastic Voyage , he would pen four episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series , including the hugely influential episode, parallel universe episode , “Mirror, Mirror.” The movie version of Fantastic Voyage was released a month before Star Trek hit the air in September 1966, but if you feel like there’s a bit of an early Trek jazz to the entire movie, Bixby’s writing is probably part of that.

It’s a beautiful film, which visually feels ahead of its time, even if some of the dialogue feels outdated, even for 1966.

Composed by Leonard Roseman, the Fantastic Voyage music will also remind you of many other sci-fi films he scored, including RoboCop 2 (1990), Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) , the animated Lord of the Rings (1978) and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). Strangely, there is zero music until exactly thirty-eight minutes into the film, when the crew of the Proteus finally enters the bloodstream of Dr. Benes. Apparently, this was a deliberate choice on the part of Roseman and the movie’s director, Richard Fleischer. The delay in kicking in a film score is also emblematic of the ponderous, deadly slow pace of the film. As a turning point in the way filmed science fiction was made, Fantastic Voyage is essential viewing. But be warned, this is a brand of movie science fiction in which long sequences of explaining things or depicting laborious technical processes dominate a huge part of the “action.” It’s a beautiful film, which visually feels ahead of its time, even if some of the dialogue feels outdated, even for 1966.

The cast of Fantastic Voyage is also extremely memorable. We recently lost the wonderful Raquel Welch who stars here as Cora Peterson. One of her best scenes happens early in the film, in which she’s demonstrating how the laser works and quips to CIA agent Charles Grant (Stephen Boyd) “that will teach you where to keep your hand.” Despite its outdated boys’ club feeling, Welch’s Cora is one of the things about Fantastic Voyage that elevates it from a sci-fi artifact, and into a living breathing movie you can enjoy in 2023. Donald Pleasence is equally great here, who, in the following year, in the Bond film You Only Live Twice , would play the defining version of the supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld. And yet, any “Dr. Evil” vibes from Pleasence in Fantastic Voyage are tempered with what passes for realism in this movie: a slow and deliberate pace.

Fantastic Voyage , 1966.

There are some fantastic character-based twists, and the espionage framing of the film is very much a part of the eventual shape of the story. Once they get into Benes’ body, things get awesome. Viewed now, there’s an earnestness to Fantastic Voyage which seems slightly funny in retrospect. Because the idea is so silly , the movie almost over-compensates by having almost everything be really serious, to the point where other characters are shooting down the wisecracks from our fish-out-of-water, the CIA agent Grant. The fact that Grant is even there at all is pretty funny when you think about it. You can easily imagine Fantastic Voyage as a sideways sequel to a Sean Connery Bond film. What if James Bond helped a scientist over the Iron Curtain and then had to shrink down to the size of an atom and enter that guy’s body to save his life again ?

In the years since Fantastic Voyage was released, its hyperbolic reputation has only grown. You may not think the aforementioned 1994 Coolio song has any connection with the movie, but if that’s true, how does one explain the TARDIS-like trunk in Coolio’s car in the music video ? How did he fit all those people into that trunk? Clearly, Coolio shrunk them with the same tech from Fantastic Voyage . The point is, at some point, Fantastic Voyage became a sci-fi punchline. In the 2014 Doctor Who episode “Into the Dalek,” when the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) learns that he’s about to be miniaturized, he says hilariously, “Fantastic idea for a movie. Terrible idea for a proctologist.”

Fifty-seven years later it is still a fantastic idea for a movie. And Fantastic Voyage is worth another look if only to remember when this strange premise seemed brand new.

Fantastic Voyage is streaming on HBO Max until February 28.

• Science Fiction

The Fantastic Voyage Remake May Still Be Happening

You'd think with that all of the remakes that have been made in Hollywood, the one for Fantastic Voyage would have either already happened or sunk back to the bottom of the pile of potential revamps. Yet here we are, supposedly on the cusp of the film actually becoming a reality. It's resurfaced in the news with filming potentially beginning sometime in January 2018, and director Guillermo del Toro may still be in the running to helm the project.

News on the remake of the 1966 sci-fi film came from a source in Toronto, Ontario who is supposedly connected to the new Fantastic Voyage project, and their word is that production cycle for the 20th Century Fox-backed refresh will begin in January. It's an idea that certainly has legs, though the project has languished in development hell for quite some time. While James Cameron got the ball rolling, with his interest dating back to 1997, Fantastic Voyage would find itself passing over to a couple other directors as time went on. But now, the almost 20-year journey to production may be over with this fresh round of news.

In Fox's original version of the genre classic, the Cold War saw the U.S. and Russia developing rival programs involving miniaturized warfare. When a scientist defected to the U.S. program found himself in a coma, it was up to the American team to save him via their miniaturized sub, the Proteus. The film acted as part spy drama and part sci-fi thriller, with the bulk of its story taking place inside of the defector's body. So certainly part of the reason Fantastic Voyage has persevered past all of the hiccups in its path is the fact that the story has a premise outlandish enough that it just needs a modern update to be relevant to audiences of today. But the studio's efforts to get this film on track have already been quite extensive.

After James Cameron didn't work out in the director's chair, Roland Emmerich , Paul Greengrass and Shawn Levy would all succeed him as directorial candidates. Cameron stayed on the project as a producer, and he still remains involved to this day, but ultimately each of the other directors tipped for Fantastic Voyage would leave the project for their own reasons. Which brings us to the most recent talks involving the project, which took place early last year and mentioned Guillermo del Toro as the latest potential director and David S. Goyer and Justin Rhodes, who are currently drafting Green Lantern Corps together, as being the latest writers on the project.

While this might just sound like another director and writer team joining the annals of Fantastic Voyage history, the source involved with the project who spoke with Omega Underground is confident that del Toro will be continuing his work in the great city of Toronto with this new project. What also helps sweeten the deal is that Guillermo del Toro already has a film in the queue with Fox Searchlight, as The Shape of Water is currently slated for release this fall. A passion project for the director, he may have made an agreement with Fox proper that secured his participation on both films, allowing this long attempted remake to fast track itself into production.

As it stands now, not only does Guillermo del Toro seem like a perfect fit for a remake of Fantastic Voyage , but it's also a project he's probably excited to tackle. Unfortunately, this is all speculation at this point, and we'll have to wait for official confirmation before celebrating any sort of production curse being broken on the project. Surely this news item will spur some updates on the exact fate of Fantastic Voyage . In the meantime, Guillermo del Toro fans can enjoy The Shape of Water after it starts its theatrical debut in limited release on December 8.

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Fantastic Voyage Remake Targets Director Guillermo Del Toro

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20th Century Fox's long-gestating Fantastic Voyage remake has been given new life, with Guillermo del Toro entering talks to develop and direct. The Hollywood Reporter reveals that the director will work with writers David S. Goyer and Justin Rhodes on the screenplay. The project is being eyed as a massive tentpole project for the studio, but an official release date has not yet been given.

James Cameron has been developing the project for several years now, and he will continue to produce with his Lightstorm Entertainment partners Jon Landau and Rae Sanchini, with David S. Goyer set to executive produce. We reported in May 2014 that David S. Goyer was writing a new treatment for the project, and now he is set to co-write the script with Justin Rhodes (Contract Killers).

The original Fantastic Voyage hit theaters in 1966, centering on a team of scientists who are shrunk to atomic size and sent in a miniature submarine inside the body of a scientist to save his life. The movie was set during the Cold War , and the scientist was a defector who was in a coma after an assassination attempt. The original classic starred Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Edmond O'Brien and Donald Pleasence.

There have been several writers and directors who have taken a crack at Fantastic Voyage . James Cameron first announced the project back in 2009, with Shane Salerno ( Savages ) originally set to write the script. Laeta Kalogridis and the writing team of Cormac Wibberley and Marianne Wibberley have previously worked on the script, with directors such as Roland Emmerich , Paul Greengrass and Shawn Levy once attached, along with stars Will Smith and Hugh Jackman .

This report also reveals that Guillermo del Toro 's Pacific Rim 2 , which was originally set to be his next movie, has been delayed indefinitely. Back in September, the filmmaker confirmed that Pacific Rim 2 was delayed, but still happening, amid rumors that the studio was cancelling the sequel. Now it seems that Pacific Rim 2 is "off the table indefinitely," which lead him to come aboard for Fantastic Voyage . What do you think about Guillermo del Toro taking over on Fantastic Voyage ?

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121 Movie Remakes and Reboots Currently in the Works

From Dune to Shrek, behold our list of film reboots and remakes in development...

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Over the years that Den of Geek has been going, we’ve regularly been charting the assortment of reboots and remakes that are making their way through the Hollywood system. This then is the current state of play. We’ve removed a bunch of projects that seem utterly dead–remakes of Videodrome and Timecrimes , for instance–but we’ll keep this list up to date as and when we hear of more.

Ace Ventura

Following in the muddy pawprints of  Ace Ventura Jr.   and the animated 1990s TV show, another attempt to revive the  Ace Ventura   franchise without the involvement of Jim Carrey is underway. It’s very early days, but Morgan Creek Productions are definitely looking into it. They’re currently trying to sell a lot of their properties, but have held onto the remake rights for  Ace Ventura ,  which they’ve attempted to work on relaunching, according to  Deadline . There hasn’t been any public movement on this project since 2017, however, so the idea may have lost traction.

read more: The Behind the Scenes Troubles of Ace Ventura 2

One of Hollywood’s most on-and-off projects, the current state of the live-action  Akira  remake is that it’s back in the works. Marco J. Ramirez, the showrunner for season 2 of Netflix’s   Daredevil  show, has been hired to pen a screenplay. Warner Bros. is still backing the film, which was previously abandoned over budget issues. Jaume Collet-Sera ( Non-Stop ), who had been set to direct, then exited the picture. Tantalizingly, Taika Waititi became attached for the project which was then aiming for a May 2021 release date. He has since signed up for two other films though, including Disney’s  Thor: Love and Thunder , causing it to be highly unlikely he’d get to Akira in time for its 2021 release window. There is currently no official movement since Waititi’s initial involvement.

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read more – Akira: Revisiting The Anime Classic

An American Werewolf in London

Max Landis was penning a remake of his father John Landis’ seminal horror comedy  An American Werewolf in London .  It was being produced by  David Albert and Robert Kirkman of  The Walking Dead   through their Skybound Entertainment company and as a first-look production deal with Universal Pictures. Given that Landis has since been accused of sexual misconduct and emotional abuse, we assume this project is dead. Though no one has confirmed it yet…

read more: An American Werewolf in London is Still the Best Horror Reimagining

The acclaimed Jacques Audiard movie,  A Prophet , is one of the best crime sagas to hit the big screen in the past 10 years. If you’ve not seen it yet, then it’s a hugely rewarding, if difficult to watch at times, piece of cinema. Sony has now taken out an option for an English language remake, which Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe will be producing under the Original Film banner. Dennis Lehane was hired to write the screenplay at the end of 2013, and in January 2016 Sam Raimi was said to be circling the director’s chair with intent. Things have gone quiet since.

Attack on Titan

Andy Muschietti just finished up  It: Chapter 2 , and he’s theoretically lined up  Attack on Titan  as a follow-up project next project–but as he has since also signed on to make WB’s newest version of a Flash movie, it remains to be seen if this movie will actually come to fruition. 

The big screen take on Batman was effectively rebooted in  Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice , where Ben Affleck stepped into the cape and cowl. Beyond that, though, a fresh trilogy of Batman movies is currently being planned, and the director of the last two Planet of the Apes films, Matt Reeves, will be steering the ship. Expect it in 2021, the movie stars Robert Pattinson of Twilight fame as a rebooted version of Bruce Wayne. He also will have a murderer’s row of talent as his rogues’ gallery, including Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as the Riddler, and Colin Farrell as the Penguin. It is unlikely this will be directly connected to Zack Snyder and Ben Affleck’s approach toward the character.

read more: The Batman Solo Movie: Everything We Know

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Big Man Japan

The 2007 mockumentary comedy kaiju movie  Big Man Japan  is something of a treat, telling the story of an ordinary man who becomes an outcast, in no small part down to his talent for turning into a gigantic hero to save Japan from lots of monsters. The U.S. remake has attracted Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay ( Clash of the Titans ,  R.I.P.D. ) to write the script. There’s been no formal greenlight yet, or announcement of a director. What’s more, there’s been no real update since 2013, so this one is sitting in limbo a little…

Big Trouble in Little China

One of the few John  Carpenter  movies to thus far escape the remake treatment? Well, that would have been  Big Trouble in Little China , but over the summer of 2018, news broke that a remake was indeed in the works. Kurt Russell has given his blessing and wished the project good luck.

Dwayne Johnson is set to headline the film, which is being penned by Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz. Johnson has already said that he wants John Carpenter involved in the project in some capacity too. It’s still in the writing stages thus far, and Johnson’s jam-packed slate means that even if everything goes to plan, this one is unlikely to shoot for a while.

Yep, the Alfred Hitchcock classic. Mind you, following the shot-for-shot remake of   Psycho , little should come as a shock. The new take on  The Birds  was originally expected to be overseen by Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes company, and Bay himself is one of the listed producers. However, that project fell apart and has been reborn as a made for BBC TV movie that is expected to hew closer to Daphne du Maurier’s source material novel from 1952. However, there’s been little project on this remake since 2017.

At one time Wesley Snipes insisted he had enjoyed a few talks with Marvel Studios about rebooting his cult classic Blade franchise. Well, the series is indeed being rebooted by Marvel, but now with two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali in the role of the Day Walker. Announced to great fanfare at the very end of Marvel’s 2019 San Diego Comic-Con panel, Ali came out to a crowd of thousands donning a Blade baseball cap. It was the craziest party the character’s had since dancing in blood at a 1998 rave. 

read more: Blade Reboot – What We Know

Con Air  director Simon West promised us to harness the power and potential of modern CG in his new take on  The Blob . Goldcrest Film is funding the project, and it seems fairly high up West’s to-do list.  So where’s it gone? Hmm.

read more: Why 1988’s The Blob is One of Horror’s Best Remakes

There’s going to be no Jean-Claude Van Damme in the announced remake of  Bloodsport  that’s currently in the works. Robert Mark Kamen, the co-writer of  Taken 2 , has been working on the script, and Phillip Noyce ( Clear and Present Danger ,  Rabbit Proof Fence ) had, at one stage, signed on to direct the movie. It’s still in the works as we understand it, and the plan is, apparently, for a film that’s more character driven than the original. Progress has been very slow on this one, however.

Jordan Peele is attached to the produce  Candyman  remake –a project that had been stuck in development hell for nearly 20 years. Peele has plenty on his plate, but he has found a wonderful director in Nia DaCosta to oversee the project. Fresh off her remarkable Little Woods, she is directing new fan favorite yahya Abdul-Mateen II in the film, as well as the original Candyman, Tony Todd. The project has a June 12, 2020 release date. 

Universal is working on a remake of Richard Pryor’s 1976 comedy  Car Wash , which gave us that ridiculously catchy theme song as well as packing a few laughs. The studio is searching for a writer at the moment, so all we really know for the time being is that the new film will focus on, obviously, the employees of a car wash.

The Chronicles of Narnia

Netflix and Entertainment One are now backing  The Chronicles of Narnia  series, taking over from 20th Century Fox, with a slate of new TV series and film projects slated.  Mark Gordon is producing, along with Douglas Gresham (C.S. Lewis’ stepson) and  and the C.S. Lewis Company director Vincent Sieber serving as executive producers on the projects. Coco co-writer Matthew Aldrich is attached to be the “creative architect” on the projects. However, it’s unclear whether this will continue the movies begun by Disney and then Fox, or if it will be a clean reboot of the material.

Cliffhanger

Sylvester Stallone’s then-floundering career received a major shot in the arm with 1993’s  Cliffhanger , where director Renny Harlin took him up some mountains and shot lots of film. Fun was had, even if John Lithgow is too harsh on his own performance. There had been talk for many years of a  Cliffhanger  sequel,  The Dam , but that never panned out. Then back in 2009 came talk of a reboot from producer Neal Moritz, who’s overseen the new  Total Recall  and   21 Jump Street . And last year, Joe Gazzam was hired to pen a screenplay for a  Cliffhanger  remake/reboot, but that version fell apart. More recently, the project was repackaged by Moritz’s team at Cannes as a female-led reboot that’ll be directed  by Ana Lily Amirpour ( A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night ). No one has been cast yet, although Jason Momoa is in talks to have apparently a “key cameo.”

The original  Clue   film was a comedic yarn that came out back in 1985, directed by Jonathan Lynn from a script based on a story idea that he came up with alongside John Landis. Another stab (or bludgeoning with lead piping) at the film is currently in development. Universal departed the project in 2011, but Hasbro has landed on its feet: 20th Century Fox became attached instead. We’ve been told that the new film “expands the narrative to a global stage,” so we may well see a few settings that aren’t libraries or billiard rooms. But hey, at least Ryan Reynolds is currently attached . Further, Disney is into the concept and is even talking with Jason Bateman to direct.

As if anyone would remake  Clueless … Technically,  Clueless   was already a remake of Jane Austen’s  Emma , so we can forgive Paramount for giving the teen classic  a modern makeover . Tracy Oliver ( Girl’s Trip ) is onboard to produce, with a screenplay that is being written by Marquita Robinson (Netflix’s  Glow ).

The popular 1990s teen thriller  The Craft  is getting the remake treatment, with  Honeymoon  director Leigh Janiak writing and directing the new film. Phil Graziadei is to co-write the script. None of the original team–writer/director Andrew Fleming, cast members Neve Campbell, Fairuza Balk, Rachel True–are set to be involved. With that said, Blumhouse Productions has tapped Michelle Monaghan ( Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Mission: Impossible ) to appear in the movie, as well as The X-Files ‘ David Duchovny. The movie is being directed by television stalwart Zoe Lister-Jones.

read more: The Craft Remake – Everything We Know

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Corin Hardy was due to direct and Jason Momoa was due to star in  The Crow Rebron .  The film has been stuck in development hell for quite some time, but was due to start shooting in 2018. However, Relativity, the studio producing it, just sold the rights to  Davis Films, Highland Film Group and Electric Shadow, and Momoa left the project. So things are likely to have been heavily delayed.

The ingenious horror thriller  Cube  took a single location and really, really made it count. More than its sequel or prequel managed to, certainly. A new version was supposed to be on the way though, and it’s going by the name of  Cubed . But now seems to have stalled for whatever reason.

Director Wolfgang Petersen’s exemplary submarine thriller, in either its film or TV guise, is pretty much unmissable cinema. That hasn’t made it resistant to the fickle finger of remake fate, however. German firm Bavaria Studios has picked up the rights to  Das Boot , and it’s planning a reboot. Whether that’ll be in the form of a television miniseries or another feature film remains to be seen…  

Don’t Look Now

Nope, nothing’s sacred. Nicolas Roeg’s 1973 horror classic has been picked up by The Picture Company for a remake, with Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman producing. StudioCanal is set to distribute the new  Don’t Look Now  once it’s made, but there’s no writer or director on board yet that we know of.

Donald Sutherland isn’t impressed at all with the news, and has called the reboot plans “shameful.”

The new version of  Dune  is definitely pressing ahead , and it enjoys a visionary director– Denis Villeneuve , the man behind the camera on   Arrival   and   Blade Runner 2049 . Timothée Chalamet ( Call Me by Your Name ) is in attached to star, as is Rebecca Ferguson ( Mission: Impossible – Fallout ). It may even be split up into two films. Yeah this is one we are really looking forward to.

Dungeons & Dragons

Legal mire has held up a planned movie reboot of  Dungeons & Dragons  for the best part of a decade. There have been three films to date, although only the 2000 original made it to a cinema. However, Warner Bros and Hasbro have now put their lawyers away, and David Leslie Johnson had been hired to write a script for a new  Dungeons & Dragons . Chris McKay briefly looked like he would be directing the film, but nothing concrete has materialized and rumors as recently as 2019 swirl that new drafts of the script are being written. The movie is technically still penciled in for a 2021 release date… but don’t bet on it.

Sidney Furie’s 1983 horror  The Entity  has landed on the desk of  The Conjuring  and Aquaman  director James Wan. He’s set to produce a new take on the project with Chad and Carey Hayes writing the screenplay for the new version. No director has thus far been announced though, but given how busy his schedule is, it won’t be Wan.

Escape from New York

The   Escape from New York  remake is moving forward, and now has a director to attached in one Leigh Whannell ( Upgrade , The Invisible Man ). John Carpenter will serve as executive producer. At one stage, one of Charlie Hunnam, Jon Bernthal, or Dan Stevens was in line for the role of Snake Plissken, but all has gone a little quiet on the casting front.

Every Which Way But Loose

The director of the original film, James Fargo, is producing this. And in the director’s chair will step Anthony G. Cohen, who previously helmed  The Sex Trip . No casting or release date news as of yet.

Fantastic Voyage

A remake of the 1966 sci-fi adventure  Fantastic Voyage –which saw a submarine crew shrunk and injected into a scientist’s body to try and  repair  his brain–has been on James Cameron’s slate for a while. His long-time chum Guillermo del Toro is now in talks to direct, but after winning an Oscar for The Shape of Water , he’s moved onto other things and this one might be good and dead.

Firestarter

Stephen King’s 1980 novel  Firestarter  was going to be adapted as a feature film for the second time by Blumhouse. The news was revealed by producer Jason Blum ( Get Out ,  Split ,  The Purge ), who initially had hired  A Winter’s Tale ‘s Akiva Goldsman to direct. That version fell apart and for a while it looked like Fatih Akin  would direct instead. That production likewise couldn’t get off the ground in 2018. There is currently no one attached on this redo.

read more: Revisiting the Adaptation of Stephen King’s Firestarter

Five Fingers of Death

Brett Ratner is remaking the Shaw Brothers’ 1973 martial arts spectacular,  Five Fingers of Death . He’ll direct the film, as well as being a producer for the project alongside James Packer. The original film followed a young fighter entering a major fighting tournament in his master’s stead, and also packed in an engaging betrayal arc. Ratner is in what some could call Hollywood jail for the many allegations that have been leveled against him, so I’d imagine someone else taking over this one.

Flash Gordon

Julius Avery ( Overlord ) was supposed to direct a  Flash Gordon  remake–taking over a project that sat with Matthew Vaughn. The movie was in development at 20th Century Fox but fell apart after Disney acquired the historic studio. It now looks like Flash Gordon will be an animated movie, which Taika Waititi was recently said to be in talks of writing (but not directing). There is no more official word on its current state .

further reading: Stephen E. de Souza Interview

Flight of the Navigator

For a while, off the back of the wonderful  Safety Not Guaranteed , it looked as if director Colin Trevorrow was in line to remake  Flight of the Navigator . Then he landed the  Jurassic World  job, and after that came the news that he’s directing the third film in the series. He’s going to be a busy man. As such, he told us in June 2015 that “I think it’s moved on.” He confirmed that he and regular collaborator Derek Connolly had penned a screenplay for the new  film , but that he is no longer involved in the project. Little else has been heard of the remake, but it’s assumed that it’s still active in some dark corner of Hollywood.

The new  Fly  remake had director attached in 2017, J.D. Dillard–who sprung to attention off the back of his debut feature,  Sleight –set to call the shots. He was also going to co-write the screenplay to the movie with Alex Theurer, his usual writing partner, with both taking on a rehash of David Cronenberg’s body horror cult classic. No public movement has happened since that announcement.

read more: The Fly is Still David Cronenberg’s Masterpiece

Friday the 13th

NBA legend LeBron James was in talks to produce a new  Friday the 13th  reboot that features Jason Voorhees and some presumably scantily clad campers. James’ SpringHill Entertainment chatted with Roy Lee’s Vertigo Entertainment to acquire the rights to the  Friday the 13th   franchise, which has been dormant for 10 years. This is not exactly a surprising development considering  Halloween , a pseudo-reboot of the Michael Myers franchise produced by Jason Blum’s Blumohouse and Universal Pictures, just posted the second biggest opening weekend in October history last year. Little movement has happened since, however Blum has publicly made clear he would love to remake Friday the 13th should the legal rights ever come his way.

The Fugitive

Lord knows so far whether this one’s going to be a reboot, a  remake  or a very belated sequel. Yet Warner Bros. has put a new The Fugitive film into development. WB just recently tapped Albert Hughes ( The Book of Eli, From Hell ) to direct the remake. Brian Tucker ( Broken City ) is writing the screenplay.

Ghostbusters

What is this doing here? Didn’t they just reboot it?! Yes, but four years later Sony is trying again. And why not? A definite nostalgic reboot that is a loose sequel to the original two movies, Ghostbusters: Afterlife stars the grandchildren of Egan who discover his Ghostbusting equipment in an abandoned small town on a farm. The film is written and directed by Jason Reitman, the son of Ivan Reitman. It is definitely a tribute to the original two movies, and is set to feature cameos from Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson, but let’s see if it can stand on its own two feet with leads played by Carrie Coon and Paul Rudd.

Green Lantern

Warner Bros. is coming around for a second go at bringing Green Lantern to the screen, following the underwhelming Martin Campbell-helmed 2011 venture. Ryan Reynolds won’t be returning to star. The new film, going by the title  Green Lantern Corps . Given the failure of Justice League and HBO Max developing its own Green Lantern series, this seemed to be quietly DOA, yet WB is insistent the project is alive and well.

read more: 142 Movie Sequels Currently in the Works

“It will almost definitely be a reboot,”  said Chris Columbus back in 2018 , talking to  Metro America  about  Gremlins 3 . Of course, the bigger news is that it’s still actually happening at all since the project has been on and off pretty much since  Gremlins 2  came out. Perhaps that’s why it was later confirmed that while a remake is happening, it’s going to be on television and animated . 

further reading: Why Gremlins 2 is Better Than the Original

Sam Raimi is to produce a new take on  The Grudge , which will be the third English language version of the movie. Nicolas Pesce ( The Eyes of My Mother ) is directing and writing from a story originally conceived by  Midnight Meat Train ‘s Jeff Buhler. Betty Gilpin of Glow fame has already been cast in the lead role.

Headhunters

Based on the book by Jo Nesbo, the 2011 Norwegian thriller  Headhunters  is an excellent piece of work, one that was quickly snapped up for the remake treatment. Whilst there’s not been much noise about it since, we know that Sacha Gervasi (who directed  Anvil ) had been hired to write the script. Mark Wahlberg had expressed interest in the project too. There’s been no recent substantive progress though.

Rebooting a film with a tagline “there can be only one” positively invites the world to chortle when a fresh take on the material is announced.  John Wick  co-director Chad Stahelski was set to shoot this one (Justin Lin, Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo had previously been attached). No actor is currently attached, but Stahelski is still adament about making this film and trying to “not fuck it up.”

Yes, Home Alone is getitng a reboot on Disney+! A byproduct of Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, the  Home Alone reboot is one of the first major priorities made out of the Fox library. With that said, it is only going to streaming and will not be a (complete) remake. Rather it is set in the same continuity as the original two holiday classics (and less loved third one, we suppose?). Further it is not outside the realm of possibility some of the cast from the original might show up again. Archie Yates, meanwhile, who appeared in Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit , has been cast in the lead role . Ellie Kemper and Rob  Delaney have also been cast. Dan Mazer is directing.

read more: Is Home Alone the Best Holiday Movie?

The Howling

Joe Dante’s 1981 werewolf movie was based on the novels by Gary Brandner, and the rights have now been picked up by Emaju Entertainment. Emaju in turn is pursuing a remake, although no writer or director is thus far attached. Andy Muschietti teased at SDCC in 2019 that he would like to remake it (but has not talked to anyone about doing so).

read more: The Howling II is Even More Ridiculous Than You Remember

Inspector Gadget

The Lego Movie  producer Dan Lin has a new take on  Inspector Gadget  sitting on his slate. It’s fair to say that neither Matthew Broderick nor Rupert Everett will be getting a phone call about it, though. Independent of the recent, well-received CG animated series, Lin now just needs to find a writer and director to bring Gadget back to the big screen in live-action.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers 

A(nother) remake of the science fiction staple  Invasion of the Body Snatchers   is in development at Warner Bros., and  David Leslie Johnson will pen the script . Johnson has had success writing  The Conjuring 2  for the studio in the past.

read more: The Legacy of Invasion of the Body Snatchers

The Invisible Man

For a while, it looked like the producers behind the  Divergent  movies were developing a new movie take on H.G. Wells’  The Invisible Man . However, things look to have changed. Universal Pictures has scrapped a “Dark Universe” version of the character, which was supposed to star Johnny Depp, and has turned to Jason Blum to return the IP to its horror roots. Smart choice, that. The Invisible Man remake is now due out in February 2020 from writer-director Leigh Whannell, and it has Elisabeth Moss set to star as the lead character bedeviled by an invisible ex-boyfriend…

Lilo & Stitch

Disney are currently turning almost every one of their old animations into live-action movies, and 2002’s  Lilo & Stitch   is  already in the cards .  The remake will be produced by Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich, who are also producing Disney’s live-action  Aladdin . Weirdly, the screenplay will be written by horror writer Mike Van Waes (who wrote The Crooked Man ), and there’s a chance the film could be heading straight for Disney’s new streaming platform.

read more: Disney Live-Action Remakes Release Schedule

The Little Mermaid

Hamilton  writer Lin-Manuel Miranda is teaming up with Disney and Alan Menken–who won an Oscar for his music to the original  The Little Mermaid  film–for the new live action telling of the story. New songs are expected to mingle with the classics, and Rob Marshall ( Mary Poppins Returns, Chicago ) is directing. But what has everyone’s jaws wagging is the cast of the remake, which includes Halle Bailey as Ariel and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula . Javier Bardem is also circling the part of King Trident.

read more – The Disney Renaissance: The Rise and Fall of a Generational Touchstone

Little Shop of Horrors

Once expected to be produced by the CW’s Greg Berlanti, much of the creative talent involved in the Little Shop of Horrors remake remains a mystery. But the project is still active. It is expected to be a remake of the 1985 movie, or more precisely another film adaptation of the Off-Broadway musical, including with the songs by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Further, at one point Josh Gad was being eyed by Berlanti. While no one is cast, movement in late 2019 suggests Billy Porter and Lady Gaga have both had conversations about appearing in a film version, with Porter as Audrey II (the man-eating plant) and Gaga as Audrey I (his ill-fated namesake). 

read more: The Little Shop of Horrors and the Tale of Its Lost Ending

Little Women

Frances Ha and  Mistress America  star/co-writer, and Lady Bird writer-director, Greta Gerwig is now following up her fresh round of Oscar nominations by helming the latest filmic adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s 19th-century novel. She has also recruited some big talent to top the cast of the 1994 version, so she hired everyone–with  Saoirse Ronan , Emma Watson , Meryl Streep , Timothée Chalamet, and Florence Pugh all starring.

Logan’s Run

Here are just a few of the people who have been involved in the elongated attempt to remake  Logan’s Run . Director Carl Rinsch, James McTeigue, Nicolas Winding Refn,  Bioshock  creator Ken Levine, Bryan Singer, and Simon Kinberg have all at some point been associated with the project. WB most recently tapped Peter Craig (of The Hunger Games movies) to write the script in 2018. There has been no news since then.

Major League

This baseball comedy from 1989 is currently under discussion for a reboot. Morgan Creek Productions has held onto the rights to this one, despite looking to sell most of their other properties. The original had Charlie Sheen and Wesley Snipes in its cast, and quadrupled its tiny $11 million budget at the U.S. box office. On behalf of our Cleveland-based staff members, let’s hope they keep this one based in The Land too. 

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

This John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart Western has been reimagined as “an urban crime/thriller in the vein of  The Departed ,  The Town  and  Mystic River .” The outlaws from the original have been recast as Polish gangsters. Yup. Moving on…

Masters of the Universe

Over two years since McG was appointed as director of the new  Masters of the Universe  film,  we finally have concrete news  that the movie is actually going to happen… with Aaron and Adam Nee directing. Sony has confirmed a release date for the movie, and we can expect it on March 5, 2021. Only Noah Centineo is so far cast in the role of He-Man, but we hope Dolph Lundgren gets a glorious cameo!

read more: The Wonderful Worldbuilding of The Masters of the Universe

The film that launched Christopher Nolan’s career,  Memento ,  is getting remade. Seemingly, the mighty Mr. Nolan is not involved at all. It’s fair to say that the groundswell of online commenters weren’t very pleased when this news was announced.

It is (or was?) AMBI Pictures who are bankrolling the remake, and they have also bought the rights to  Cruel Intentions ,  I Heart Huckabees ,  The Passion Of The Christ ,  Rush ,  Robot & Frank,   and   Donnie Darko . In 2015,  Memento   seemed to be their top priority. It’s been quieter since then though.

Mortal Kombat

New Line continues with its plan to reboot the  Mortal Kombat  movies, and it’s recruited James Wan–director of  The Conjuring  and  Fast & Furious 7 –to produce the new movie. The project is being directed by first-timer Simon McQuoid and is set to star Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, and Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade. The movie is due out in March 2021, and we have more about it right here .

Underrated movie  Mulan , one that’s often overlooked when the Walt Disney Animation Studios output of the late 1990s is quickly, and unfairly written off. But now it’s getting its time in the sun again. Disney’s series of live-action remakes continues to unfold with great expediency. Liu Yifei will be playing the girl who saved an empire after a months-long search during which time Disney interviewed over a thousand actresses across five continents. The film also has high pedigree in its direction from Niki Caro. The director enjoys an outstanding reputation for directing pictures like 2002’s Oscar nominated film,  Whale Rider . Mulan will be getting down to business to defeat the Huns when it opens in theaters in March 2020.

read more: Mulan Remake: Everything We Know

The Naked Gun

There was recent movement in this decade to reboot The Naked Gun in the vein of the recent   Vacation  redo , which was more of a follow-up about the next generation starring Ed Helms. Indeed, Helms was previously attached to this remake but has since fallen out. Yet producer David Zucker promised as recently in 2018 that movement on a reboot is on. He even confirmed it is still about the son of Frank Drebin, saying, “ Now it’s the son of Frank Drebin. There’s an evil Russian crime lord who killed Frank Drebin and swore to kill every Drebin he could find in the phone book so he and his mother Jane (Priscilla Presley) are in witness protection.”

A Nightmare on Elm Street

A second attempt to reboot the  A Nightmare on Elm Street  film series has been put into development by New Line. Following the underwhelming 2010 version, which saw Jackie Earle Haley take over the role of Freddy Krueger from Robert Englund , New Line opted not to press ahead with a sequel. Most recently writer and producer David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick told Gamespot he is still working on the reboot, but The Conjuring franchise is on the frontburner at New Line. Still, Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah have also revealed they’d like to reboot the franchise, so there is interest all around to make something happen.

further reading: Is Dream Warriors the Best A Nightmare on Elm Street?

Night at the Museum

Another Disney+ priority for the Mouse after consuming the Fox, there is not a lot known currently other than this will reboot (or loosely continue?) the 20th Century Fox produced  Night at the Museum   movies. The original trilogy was directed by Shawn Levy and of course starred Ben Stiller as a down-on-his-luck security guard recently hired by the Natural History Museum in New York City. But then he discovers a great secret: at night all the fossils, artifacts, and stuffed animals in the museum come alive!

Night of the Comet

Thom Eberhardt’s 1984 cult classic is heading for a remake with Roxanne Benjamin ( Body at Brighton Rock ) writing a screenplay for Orion Pictures. The original told the story of two sisters (played by Kelli Maroney and Catherine Mary Stewart) who battled cannibal zombies after an exctinction event, and the film went on to have a big influence on Joss Whedon when he made   Buffy .  There’s no word yet on when the  Night of the Comet  remake will begin production, and no release date has been set, but Benjamin confirmed in March 2019 that the script is done.

The classic 1922 horror is being reworked by Studio 8, which previously hired Robert Eggers to write and direct its new take. Initially he cast his Witch leading lady,  Anya Taylor-Joy , to play a lead role in the film but the movie has since apparently hit a wall. We spoke with Eggers about the project in October 2019 and he said “it would be a real shame” if the movie never got made. However, as it’s since been confirmed his next movie is a Vikings film called The Northman , we suspect this one may have gotten away.

Pirates of the Caribbean

This one isn’t officially confirmed yet, but  everything seems to be pointing  towards a Depp-less  Pirates  reboot. Disney clearly want to make a sixth film in the series, but rumours surrounding Depp’s personal life are looking likely to be a bit too contraversial for them to hire him back as Captain Jack. That could all still change, of course, but we’re expect a new lead to be annouced soon.

Planet of the Apes

Even though 20th Century Fox surprisingly, and miraculously, just rebooted this ancient franchise into something special in the past decade with the Andy Serkis-led Caesar trilogy, a Planet of the Apes reboot has become a top priority by Disney. This is the first reboot-minded mining of Fox’s library by the Mouse that is being pegged for a theatrical release. Wes Ball of The Maze Runner fame has been pegged to write and direct the reboot .

read more: Continuity of the Planet of the Apes Films Explained!

Private Benjamin

Private Benjamin –the 1980 Goldie Hawn comedy which spawned a TV show as well as making a splash cinematically–at one point was getting the remake treatment. In 2014 it was announced Rebel Wilson was circling the project with an eye to star in it. That obviously did not happen, and the word has been mum on the movie ever since.

Pumpkinhead

The 1988 demonic horror flick  Pumpkinhead   is being remade for the modern cinematic age. Peter Block, one of  Saw ‘s executive producers, has picked up the rights and put a reboot into development.

“There is a similarity of theme and a similarity of story,” Block told  EW . “There’s a lot of Easter eggs for people who know the original — iconic shots and iconic lines that we’re going to use. But we’ve enhanced the setting, and we’ve expanded the characters somewhat, to give it a different kind of experience.” As recently as November 2019, Block has assured the press the movie is happening.

For a long time, Rose McGowan was set to take the title role in a  Red Sonja  reboot, and Robert Rodriguez was developing the movie with an eye on directing it. But then things fell apart, with  Con Air ‘s Simon West next to be linked. He too movied on, as did potential stars Megan Fox and Amber Heard. In 2018,  Bryan Singer was infamously attached to direct , but there were several unspoken reasons why that probably wasn’t a great idea. The film has since shifted again with it being revealed in summer 2019 that Transparent ‘s Jill Soloway is slated to direct . We’ll believe it when we see it, but getting a woman to direct this problematic material is probably a smart move.

Resident Evil

You probably saw it coming, but maybe not as fast as it did. As soon as the last movie in the  Resident Evil  film franchise left theaters, a reboot of the whole thing was announced. At this point, it is being written and directed by  Johannes Roberts ( 47 Meters Down ).  Ok doke, then. To be fair, he recently told Slashfilm it will be much more horrific, like the games, than the Paul W.S. Anderson franchise that came before it.

read more: The George Romero Resident Evil We Never Saw

The Patrick Swayze favorite was pegged for a remake back since at least 2013. More recently Ronda Rousey–the UFC fighter who popped up in  Furious 7   and the  Entourage   film–nabbed the lead role. We also know that Michael Stokes had penned a screenplay for the new film, and that Rob Cohen, of  xXx  and  The Fast and the Furious , was set to direct at some stage. All parties then departed, however, and Nick Cassavettes ( The Notebook, Alpha Dog ) was the last director attached. With that said, Cassavetes wrote a screneplay with Cassie Pappas ( Tyrant ), so the project might still be developing. 

Universal have been losing directors by the handful for the latest screen version of  Scarface , following Howard Hawks’ 1932 original and Brian De Palma’s 1983 remake. Martin Bregman and Marc Shmuger are producing (Bregman also produced the De Palma version) though, and the setting this time will be present day Los Angeles. Last we heard,  Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer was working on the script and Antoine Fuqua was attached again as director . Diego Luna has also remained attached through several interations of the project as the new Tony, but last we heard Fuqua and Luna were working with another writer on another version of a script once previously penned by the Coen Brothers.

She’s All That

The oeuvre of Freddie Prinze Jr. has attracted the  interest  of film remakers.  Miramax was working on a new  She’s All That , which in turn was loosely based on  Pygmalion ,  but the project seems to have stalled after the Weinstein fallout. Tonya Lewis Lee was set to produce the new film, and Kenny Leon was linked with the director’s chair on the project… once.

Short Circuit

As much as we love them,  Short Circuit  and  Short Circuit 2  are a pair of films that really do show their age. That said, the raw materials remain fun, and perhaps that’s why Dimension Films remain keen on a new  Short Circuit  franchise. They’ve hired Tim Hill, of the first two  Alvin and the Chipmunks  movies (as well as  Muppets From Space ), to direct the new film, with Matt Lieberman writing. We’re going to get an edgier robot too, we gather. Fisher Stevens, who appeared in the first two movies, is linked with the new one. But there’s been no word on the new  Short Circuit  for a little while now. Has the project been quietly dropped, we wonder?

Chris Meledandri, the founder and CEO of Illumination Entertainment, has been tasked with rebooting the Shrek-verse, and  it sounds like he wants to keep some elements of the originals  (ie, the voices) intact. “Reboot” is still the term being used here though, so this will likely be a very new story with the same old characters. Could it even have a completely different art style?

The first  Sister Act  movie was a big surprise hit in 1992, one of the biggest of Whoopi Goldberg’s career. The second,   Back in the Habit , wasn’t, but the  Sister Act  name then went to Broadway and enjoyed a fresh wave of success. Whoppi Goldberg has since confirmed she will not be involved in the movie in any major capacity and that it is essentially a remake. Further what is still being bandied about as “Sister Act 3” will be developed exclusively for Disney’s streaming service, Disney+ . Insecure ‘s Regina Hicks and Star ‘s Karin Gist are writing the screenplay.

When creator Todd McFarlane announced that he was ready to direct and write a new  Spawn   reboot film for the paltry sum of $10 million, many (admittedly, including ourselves) threw shade at the idea that it would actually ever happen. The first attempt to bring the antihero to the big screen was a massive failure, and McFarlane’s insistence that he be the one to rule the roost with complete creative control seemed unworkable for the majority of the studios he approached with the project. 

But then Blumhouse stepped in. The low budget horror production house behind smash hits like  Get Out   and  Sinister   was willing to put up the touted $10 mil… as long as no one got paid until it made a profit. Everyone seemingly agreed to these terms, and production was poised to be underway in 2017 with  Jamie Foxx and Jeremy Renner starring . And then… it didn’t happen. McFarlane insisted in 2019 that he’s still fighting the good fight, but mum’s the word.

Producer Brian Grazer once confirmed that plans are afoot for a new take on the 1984 hit,  Splash . Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah starred in Ron Howard’s original version, while Channing Tatum and Jillian Bell were originally set to appear in the remake. Tatum is playing a merman. Hanks later gave the revival his blessing. Still, there’s been no movement on this project since 2016, although Bell said in 2019 that it is still happening. One might assume it’d be a good fit for Disney+ at htis point… 

Starship Troopers

A new take on Robert Heinlein’s book  Starship Troopers  is supposed to be coming to the big screen. Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, the duo who worked on the  Baywatch  movie, wrote what is rumored to be a “faithful” adaptation of Heinlein’s novel. Paul Verhoeven’s 1997 took a satirical angle at the source material, which has been described as”militaristic” and “fascistic,” by echoing Nazi propaganda films like Leni Riefenstahl’s  Triumph of the Will , but hey, a direct approach at adapting the novel will probably go over like gangbusters in today’s day and age. Verhoeven agrees, previously saying a fascist remake would be perfect for the Trump presidency. Yikes…

read more: The Use of Ads in Starship Troopers and RoboCop

Strangers on a Train

This one’s stalled out, but is intriguing enough of an idea we actually support seeing it rebound. The  Gone Girl  team of director David Fincher and writer Gillian Flynn were revealed to be attached to a new take on Alfred Hitchcock’s   Strangers on a Train . One that would star Ben Affleck and be set on a fateful train ride the evening of the Academy Awards ceremony, and in which Affleck would play a movie star roped into murder. That was at the start of January 2015. Since then, Flynn has admitted that their schedules have made fitting the project in tricky, but it’s still believed to be on the proverbial stove. We’re still open to it, if only due to Fincher’s bemusing idea of setting it in the entertainment industry .

read more: 10 Best Alfred Hitchcock Movies

Stuart Little

The trilogy of movies based on E.B. White’s  Stuart Little  resulted in one big hit, one decent hit, and one straight to DVD release in the ’90s and ’00s. Sony is thus going back to the drawing board for a new  Stuart Little , which we’re told are going to be “more comedic” this time around. There’s no timescale on the project as of yet though.

Sword in the Stone

Disney’s 1963 animated feature is getting the live action remake treatment. Bryan Cogman, a writer and producer on  Game of Thrones , is working on the screenplay for a new movie. He was also involved in Disney’s 2016 remake of  The Jungle Book . Juan Carlos Fresnadillo ( 28 Weeks Later ) is meanwhile tapped to direct .

The Ten Commandments

The biblical tale of Moses and the Ten Commandments has been told on screen several times over the years. The best known version until now was Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 production, which picked up an Academy Award for Best Special Effects. This one comes from Paramount, and not long after Ridley Scott’s  Exodus: Gods and Kings   trod similar ground. There’s no director attached yet.

read more: Can the Biblical Epic be Resurrected?

Terms of Endearment

The new version of  Terms of Endearment  will see Larry McMurty’s source novel mined once more, and Lee Daniels ( The Butler ) is in line to direct this time around. Furthermore, Oprah Winfrey is on board, and she’s set to take on the role of Aurora in the new movie. There’s no word yet on who will be taking on the role of her daughter.

The Thomas Crown Affair

A second remake of the 1968 Steve McQueen-starring heist movie,  The Thomas Crown Affair  is currently in development. We already got the Pierce Brosnan version in 1999, and now  Creed  star Michael B. Jordan is believed to be attached to a new take on the material. No director attached yet, as far as we know.

1994’s  Timecop  was one of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s biggest ever hits. It was based on a comic book, and a new take on the material is in the planning stages. Mark and Brian Gunn, who penned  Journey 2: The Mysterious Island   were once writing a script, and the new  Timecop  will be – get your remake buzzword bingo card ready – gritty, more grounded, with the sci-fi in the background. That was almost seven years ago, so maybe not hold your breath for this, eh?

Toxic Avenger

Just a few years ago, the mooted remake of Troma’s  Toxic Avenger  had Arnold Schwarzenegger interested in taking a supporting role. Steve Pink, who helmed  Hot Tub Time Machine 2 , penned the script for the new film, and he confirmed earlier in the year that the screenplay had been completed. Arnie, though, opted to make  Terminator: Genisys  instead, and that left  Toxic Avenger  in limbo. The project was then getting nowhere fast, including when Sausage Party’s Conrad Vernon became attached to direct. Most recently it has seen its prospects dissolve into radioactive goo, but regeneration might be just around the corner. In late 2018, Legendary Pictures picked up the rights to attempt the remake next.

read more: A Brief History of Troma’s Superhero Franchise

Valley Girl

The original Valley Girl   featured Nicolas Cage and Deborah Foreman, neither of whom are near the new version it seems. Instead,  Poldark  star Josh Whitehouse has nabbed the lead this time around, playing the punk rock musician who falls for a girl who’s not so punk-rocky. Jessica Rothe is his co-star in the new film, that Amy Lee Talkington and Marti Noxon have penned the screenplay for. Behind the camera this time is Rachel Lee Goldenberg. The film has been completed but there is no release date as of yet.

Van Helsing

A reboot of  Van Helsing   has been planned for years. That does not look likely to change. The script was previously in the hands of writer Dan Mazeau. Mazeau, whose only major credited screenplay was the 2012 Greek myth series sequel  Wrath of the Titans , is in the process of rewriting the Van Helsing script after it was originally drafted by  The Mummy   writer Jon Spaihts ( Passengers ) and Eric Heisserer ( Arrival ). Universal was intending their new take to be part of their Dark Universe though, so the plans have likely been shelved for the time being. During that dark (heh) period, the studio had its eye on Channing Tatum. But everything regarding the classic monster characters now appears to be in flux.

The Warriors

Huge fans of Walter Hill’s  The Warriors  here, which occasionally finds itself thrown into remake discussions. Way back when, Mark Neveldine, the co-writer/director of the  Crank  films, admitted that he and Brian Taylor are interested in tackling a new take on  The Warriors . “It’s just in rights hell at the moment,” he told  Screencrush   at the time. Since then the project appears to have stalled and the last we heard, the Russo Brothers were tasked fresh off Captain America: Civil War to produce a television series adaptation, so maybe expect the reboot for the small screen? 

White Men Can’t Jump

The 1992 basketball comedy  White Men Can’t Jump , starring Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, is (or at least was) in line for a big screen do-over. In 2017, it was in the hands of Kenya Barris, the creator of Black-ish , and 20th Century Fox was backing the project, as it did the original. Barris would produce and write. However, the shape of the project post Disney takeover remains a mystery.

The Wild Bunch

Mel Gibson is writing and directing a remake of  The Wild Bunch .  There were once plans for the remake to be set in the a modern day (with Will Smith taking on a Mexican cartel) but it seems like Gibson is sticking with the Western genre. Since the original film is considered to be one of the best Westerns ever made, there’s quite a lot riding on this one… 

The Wolfman

Not many people look back at the troubled production of 2010’s  The Wolfman  with much fondness. Not many people look back with fondness at the film itself either. Nonetheless, a further reboot was planned as part of Universal’s dark universe. Aaron Guzikowski, who wrote the excellent   Prisoners , was on scripting duties, but the project has been shelved ever since  the Dark Universe failed to take off .

Five sequels is clearly enough, so it’s time to start again with  Wrong Turn .  Constantin Films has tapped franchise creator Alan B. McElroy to write a script that updates his original cannibal-killers-in-the-woods concept, with Mike P. Nelson ( The Domestics , Studio Luma ) set to direct.  The reboot will apparently lose the basic “car breaks down in the wrong place” concept, and focus on a group of hikers who find a load of cannibal killers in the woods instead.  The film now has the title Wrong Turn: The Foundation and is expected in 2020.

Your Name  has been one of the global box office successes of 2017, notching up over $350 million of business across the world, off the back of ecstatic reviews. That’s the kind of money that makes Hollywood interested, so of course an American live-action remake of the film is on the cards. J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot company has picked up the rights, and Abrams himself will be one of the producers of the movie. He isn’t likely to direct though, not least due to his commitment to  Star Wars: Episode IX .

A screenwriter has already been hired, though. Eric Heisserer, best known for  Arrival , is set to write the script for this one.

Zorro Reborn

We don’t make these things up you know. Plans have been afoot to reboot the Zorro movies since 2005’s  The Legend Of Zorro  failed to match the majesty of 1999’s  The Mask Of Zorro . The latest approach–and we wonder if all concerned had a day out watching Mad Max: Fury Road –is to set it in the near future, in post-apocalyptic times.  The film has since been retitled Z and has cast the wonderful Kiersey Clemons ( Dope, Neighbors , supposedly that Flash movie that keeps never happning) in a lead role. The excellent Gael García Bernal ( Coco, Y Tu Mamá También ) has been cast as Zorro himself, while Jonas Cuarón, co-writer of Gravity, is directing. Still, we’ll believe it when we see it though.

"Fantastic Voyage" remake cast

1. Ron Perlman

2. Benedict Cumberbatch

• Additional Crew

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4. Djimon Hounsou

5. Tessa Thompson

6. Doug Jones

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Fantastic Voyage (James Cameron)

Started by Nightmare Asylum, Apr 05, 2024, 05:10:25 PM

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• Posts: 35,937

Quote As for other pursuits, the filmmaker once again brought up his plans to produce a remake of the 1966 tour-through-the-human-body "Fantastic Voyage," a project Cameron and his partner Jon Landau have toyed with for over a decade. "We've been developing it for a number of years, and we plan to go ahead with it very soon," Cameron said. "Raquel Welch is not available, but we think we can make a pretty good movie."

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Quote from: T Dog on Apr 06, 2024, 11:32:12 AM Would assume this is a "produced by Cameron" directed by someone else scenario ala Battle Angel Alita.

Quote from: Nightmare Asylum on Apr 06, 2024, 11:49:27 AM Quote from: T Dog on Apr 06, 2024, 11:32:12 AM Would assume this is a "produced by Cameron" directed by someone else scenario ala Battle Angel Alita.

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When MLB playoffs arrive, sidelined local broadcasters ache as they listen to the national call

It was the ninth inning of Mets-Brewers Game 3, a winner-take-all matchup to advance to the National League Division Series. The Mets were down two runs, had two on, and slugger Pete Alonso was at the plate.

It was a moment meant for Gary Cohen — the legendary 36-year voice of the New York Mets. But he wasn’t inside the raucous American Family Field confines calling the game, because he couldn’t be. Instead, he was in New York City, at the SNY studios, preparing for the post-game show.

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The 66-year-old’s whole life has been dedicated to this team. The Queens native grew up going to games, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of its history. But as that game unfolded, he said that he didn’t allow himself to think of what he was missing, because he still had a job to do. Even if it wasn’t the one he wanted in that moment.

“It’s kind of a big deal,” Cohen said of the Mets’ magical run. “So no, it hasn’t gotten any easier. It still stinks just as much as it did the first time.”

What happened next will forever be seared in the minds of even the most casual of Mets supporters: A season-saving three-run shot that crept over the right-field wall. Alonso blew a kiss as he rounded first. He closed his eyes and screamed as he rounded third. He was mobbed by his teammates after crossing home plate.

Cohen wasn’t on the call because ESPN has the rights to the Wild Card Series. TBS and FOX have the rights to rounds that come after. Cohen called nearly every regular season game this year. Everything from their dreary 0-5 start, to Grimace’s first pitch and the win streak that followed, to the clincher on the regular season’s final day.

But instead of joining the team, staff and radio announcers on a flight to Milwaukee, Cohen’s season in the booth came to a close two weeks ago in Atlanta.

Across baseball, the local voices who fans get to know and (usually) love over 162 regular season games are replaced by national broadcasters for the playoffs. While there are sensible logistical, contractual and financial reasons why local TV broadcasters are sidelined for the postseason, that fact doesn’t erase the pain associated with missing the call — both for the announcers themselves and the fan bases that feel cut off.

“It’s kind of like taking a transatlantic voyage on a ship, and then getting thrown overboard a mile from shore,” Cohen said with an unhappy chuckle. “It’s weird.”

Unlike their television counterparts, radio broadcasters stay with their local teams through the postseason. So in the Alonso moment, Mets radio broadcaster Howie Rose was able to give it the call of his life. “He did it,” shrieked Rose — seemingly out-of-his mind excited, yet also fully keyed in on describing the scene before him.

Cohen, meanwhile, could only watch. He gathered his thoughts and prepared to present them on SNY after the game. Cohen was happy for Rose and is complimentary of the national announcers who are doing the games in his stead. He’s fully aware he accepted a job that prevents him from calling these moments. He also didn’t pretend to hide his own disappointment.

“I’m sure they’re having a blast doing that,” he said. “I can only sit here envious of the fun they have to be having.”

Taking a job as a television broadcaster comes with caché, money and name recognition. Just as there are only 30 managerial jobs, 30 GMs and 30 starting shortstops, only one person can be a primary television play-by-play voice.

But it also comes with one innate flaw, an understanding for everyone taking this coveted position. When the regular season ends, your duty is ceded to someone else.

“Imagine being a player and spending the entire season on the roster, and then being told you won’t be on the postseason roster,” said one current TV play-by-play broadcaster who wished to remain anonymous. “That’s how I feel.”

Atlanta’s Austin Riley hit a massive home run in the NLDS last season to complete a four-run comeback against the Phillies . And Braves broadcaster Brandon Gaudin was in attendance — as a fan.

He jumped up and down. The longtime Braves supporter was able to celebrate that moment as he would have as a kid. Something he recognized was special.

“Then the adrenaline wears off and I wonder, ‘What would I have said? What would my call have been in that moment?’” Gaudin said. “I remember the deafening roar and thinking how cool it would have been to quickly punch that call, and then sit back and let the chills go down your body as the crowd takes over.

“Did I think about that a couple moments after the home run happened? I did. I wondered what it would have been like.”

Before Len Kasper took over in the Chicago White Sox radio booth, he spent 16 years as the Cubs’ television voice. In his last six seasons, the Cubs went to the playoffs five times — most notably breaking a 108-year World Series championship drought in 2016.

Kasper took the incredibly rare step of leaving television for radio, in part, because he did not want to experience that feeling anymore. When he left, he explained it to then-manager David Ross by asking him how he’d have felt to be left off the 2016 playoff roster.

“You want to feel like you’re a part of it,” Kasper said. “Calling the games when they count the most. Radio announcers get the call all the way until the end.

“I think there’s big value in that, and that’s one of the reasons I made the switch.”

Sitting in between his two radio co-hosts, Michael Kay had a gripe. Kay calls Yankees games on YES. And he was assigned to call the Astros-Tigers Wild Card Series on ESPN.

On his radio show the day after that series ended, he lamented that he was the game’s only television voice.

“You don’t think Tigers fans want to hear Jason Benetti? And they don’t want to hear Todd Kalas on the Astros side,” Kay said. “C’mon. It’s so easy. Just have secondary audio.”

“It’s not the same as listening to the voices of those teams,” said Pirates broadcaster Greg Brown. “I don’t know how I would have felt — especially for a team that hasn’t gotten there very often — not to be able to participate. For me, it would have left quite a void in my career not to continue into the postseason.”

While all regular season NFL games are televised nationally, baseball is far more of a local enterprise than most of the other major sports. The game is rarely a topic of conversation on national drive-time radio. But on a day-to-day basis, baseball teams matter in their markets.

When local broadcasters are usurped in the postseason, it can create a dynamic where fans feel short-changed. That frustration can come in the form of complaints about bias, or just a general dissatisfaction with the overall product.

“Your connection with the broadcasters is stronger than any other sport because there’s 162,” said Joe Davis, the Dodgers broadcaster who also calls the playoffs, including the World Series, on FOX. “Just about all of them you’re spending with the two guys that are with the team.”

“And then, who are these people who show up and call the biggest games of the year? I totally get it. You’re never going to be the most popular guy in the room in that role.”

And fans are not shy about passing those comments along.

“Social media has given fans a digital suggestion box that holds all of us accountable, locally and nationally, which demands our focus on improving the product,” acknowledged Brian Anderson , who calls Brewers games on Bally Sports and is the voice of TBS in the postseason.

An average Mets game on SNY draws a little more than 250,000 viewers, according to a 2022 report by the Sports Business Journal. MLB announced broadcasts averaged 3.6 million viewers during the Division Series . Those impacted by the lack of a local telecast are a fraction of the overall audience. That doesn’t mean their complaints are invalid, or that they fall on deaf ears once October rolls around.

“The season is so darn long, I know what it’s like when the Cubs fans just want to hear their guys,” said Jon Sciambi, who is the Cubs’ television broadcaster, and also called Mets-Brewers on ESPN. “They’re used to it, and it just feels weird.”

That’s the emotional side of the equation. And then there’s the pragmatic side of it too, which Sciambi was quick to note. The baseball postseason isn’t solely meant for the local audience. Even in moments like Alonso’s home run, it’s the fan bases that want someone as excited as them, or to reassure them in the season’s final moments.

“There are plenty of people watching that game that are not Mets fans, and not Brewers fans,” he said. “There’s an aspect of it, where they’re just watching it.

“So as loud as it gets, I think that they’re fine and used to all of the national guys that have done it.”

When The Athletic requested an interview from MLB for this story, a spokesman said that its broadcast partners would be a better source of information. After all, they determine who broadcasts the games.

When The Athletic reached out to one of the league’s broadcast partners, its spokesman said that MLB would be better to answer questions on this topic. After all, they set the parameters for television coverage of their sport with all their partners.

In the end, it is something of a joint decision. Preventing local telecasts from airing alongside a national broadcast is part of their contractual agreement, a league source said. And it’s one that’s financially beneficial to both sides.

FOX pays MLB a reported $729 million per year. Turner pays $470 million, and ESPN pays $550 million. None of these networks agree to that hefty price with the intent to share eyeballs during the sport’s most consequential month.

It wasn’t always like this, though. In the 1970s, local rights-holders used to air the championship series. The first round of the NBA and NHL playoffs are broadcast nationally and locally to this day. Some national baseball broadcasters would like to see that option.

“I liked that model,” said Anderson, who noted that he tries to incorporate highlights of local calls into their national telecast . “I’ve done postseason baseball for TBS for 17 years now and I always feel terrible that the voices of the fans of teams involved are gone.

“No national announcer, me included, will ever be as knowledgeable and tuned into the culture of a team as the local announcer. To call your team in the biggest moments is something we all desire,” he said.

Anderson cited Turner’s “TeamStream” model that is used during the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, as an option “worth pursuing.” That would allow local crews to combine for an “AltCast” where local fans could hear their broadcaster.

“That would be fantastic if somehow that came to pass,” Cohen said.

But as Anderson, Cohen and many others have noted, that option sounds easier in theory than it would be to execute in reality.

So, for now, Cohen and many of his counterparts will sit in studios, in the stands, or just in front of their television watching the end of a season they helped bring to this moment.

“You’re a part of the fabric for six months,” Cohen said. “And then all of a sudden, you’re not.”

— The Athletic ’s Chad Jennings and Stephen Nesbitt contributed to this report.

(Top photo of Gary Cohen with broadcast partner Ron Darling: Kathy Willens / Associated Press)

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Sam Blum is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Los Angeles Angels and Major League Baseball. Before joining The Athletic, he was a sports reporter for the Dallas Morning News. Previously, he covered Auburn for AL.com and the University of Virginia for The Daily Progress in Charlottesville.