The latest victim of the TV show-turned-movie trend is the classic 1960s animated show "Speed Racer." Notice we use the word "victim"—movie remakes have so far done nothing more than end great, classic stories on a sour note. Save for maybe the "Transformers" movie. That rocked.
The 2008 movie remake of "Speed Racer" stars Emile Hirsch as Speed and includes a few more A-list actors, including Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon and John Goodman. Here's the trailer:
The late 1980s—early 1990s classic is back for more in just three short days. The NEW "American Gladiators" will premier on Sunday at 9 p.m. on NBC. The show features a cast of bigger, faster and stronger gladiators versus a group of more modestly athletic opponents in a 10-stage competition. The stages are all recycled from the original series; the joust, assault and the Eliminator are all back. Even the host has a touch of classic TV—alongside Laila Ali is pro-wrestling great Hulk Hogan.
It's too bad we caught wind of this after we already wrote our "The Munsters vs. The Addams Family" article a while back, but the Wayans Brothers are planning on making a movie adaptation of the classic television show, "The Munsters."
Keenan Ivory, Marlon and Shawn Wayans will be writing the screenplay, and will produce the movie alongside Rick Alvarez. Keenan may direct the film, but nothing will be finalized until the final script is ready.
Content-wise, we've read that the brothers are planning on making the movie a bit edgier than the television show was. Not too edgy though; they're aiming for a PG-13 rating. But edginess aside, they are planning on staying true to the original characters, but are adapting them into a contemporary setting.
That's all the information we have so far, folks. Like always, we'll keep you posted as we learn more.
The Hollywood revivalists are at it again; this time, they want to make "Hawaii Five-0" a motion picture. Any takers? Quentin Tarantino is out.
Through his producing partner, Warner brothers approached Tarantino about directing the flick, assuming that the detective plot would pique his interest. They were wrong, to say the least. Here's what he had to say about the show and the prospect of directing the movie:
"My producing partner at the time—Lawrence Bender—was hanging out with some dude from Fox or Warners or whatever, and they said I should stop working on what I was doing because I'd be so into this. I tried to watch the old TV show, but it sucks. I don't even like Hawaii."
We did a little research on IMDb.com and found out that the movie has officially been announced. The predetermined release date is 2010, even though it doesn't list a cast or director. What we do know, so far, is that the screenplay will be co-written (or has already been written? Who knows?) by George Nolfi whose works include the "Bourne Ultimatum" and "Oceans 12."
There's another classic television remake on the horizon! "Get Smart," the classic comedy from the 1960s, hits the big screen in 2008 starring Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart.
The makers of the film could not have picked a better actor to play the part of Maxwell Smart. Besides baring a close likeness to Don Adams, the original Max Smart, Carell has been perfect in other roles when he played the hapless, inexperienced and clumsy guy (Look at his characters in "The 40 year-old Virgin," "Anchorman" and "The Office").
Many, but not all, of the show's characters will be in the movie; Agent 99 will be played by Anne Hathaway, Chief of CONTROL will be played by Alan Arkin, and Agent 23 will be Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
Why is Hollywood relying so much on making classic television shows into movies, adapting books to film, and remaking movies? Our assumption is that they have quick turnaround (script and plot development, etc.) and immediate attention from the awaiting public. A producer can spend a lot less money creating hype about a movie that already had a following as a book or a show. Additionally, this creates the opportunity for the producer of the television show, the author of the book, or the producer of the original movie to capitalize on a restored interest in their work. It always comes down to money. Think about it, while many of us may have loved "Get Smart" when it aired on television, when was the last time we had seen a repeat or even heard the show talked about? After the release of the movie trailer, you bet we'll see a DVD box set hitting the shelves in no time.
Oh, who are we kidding. We can't wait to see the movie! "Get Smart" will be released June 20, 2008, and we're already counting the days!
Here are the opening credits for the original show and a teaser trailer for the upcoming movie. Look at the similarity between the two actors!
