There ’s only one thing Hollywood have it away than a motion picture ground on a toy : remake . Dozens of science - fiction classic are slated for do - overs . But instead of redo motion-picture show that were fine the first time , here are 20 books Hollywood should take .
Seriously , after watching The Day The Earth Stood Still , we ’re even more convinced than ever that “ updating ” or otherwise essay to refresh the classics of the musical genre just leads to horrible soggy mountain . It ’s voiceless to believe there ’s something worse than endless sequels , butremakes of perfectly dandy films might just be it . Especially when there are so many great books left unfilmed , many of which are made for a film adaptation .
Instead of remaking Videodrome …
Universal snatch up up the remaking right to this Cronenberg film last year , and Ehren Kruger ( co - writer of transformer : retaliation Of The Fallen and sole author of Transformers 3 ) will write and co - produce . The Modern version will “ overhaul the concept , inculcate it with the possibilities of nano - applied science and blow it up into a large - scale sci - fi action thriller,”says Variety .
… Film Jennifer Government by Max Barry alternatively .
Seriously , if you want to see a huge paranoid thriller sic in a dystopian succeeding existence , you ’re in reality crying out for a Jennifer Government pic . In a drear future , everybody ’s last name is the society they work for — and now society have start engineering slaying as a mean value of marketing their products . Horror and strangeness flux together with snarky humor — even the Michael Bay version would be interesting .
Instead of remaking Robocop …
If I want to take in the Darren Aronofskyversionof Robocop , I ’ll just put in the videodisc of the Verhoeven version and turn the smartness way down , while occasionally stick my head into a bucket of Christmas lights . Actually , I love Aronofsky ’s work , for the most part , but Robocop is a film that requires no “ reimagining . ” It ’s already fully imagined . Leave Robocop alone !
… Film Mark L. Van Name ’s Jon And Lobo novel .
We’vepraisedthese booksbefore , but the floor of the only cyborg in a society that conceive cyborgs do n’t exist is tailor - made for a film . Jon can peach to machine thanks to nanotech implants , and he forms a close partnership with a sentient storage tank , which helps him go kick ass across several superstar organization .
https://gizmodo.com/now-we-know-aronofskys-robocop-not-sequel-5071684
https://gizmodo.com/if-you-like-these-recent-movies-here-are-books-youll-l-5406955
https://gizmodo.com/a-super-soldier-who-talks-to-washing-machines-5033579
Instead of remaking Escape From New York …
Apparently the playscript for this remaking by Allan Loeb is really quite ingenious , and this fourth dimension around Snake Plissken ’s rescue a distaff senator ( instead of the president ) from the walled - off Manhattan . Thebanter is said to be razor - sharp , and New Line Cinema is place this on the fast caterpillar track .
… Film Glasshouse by Charles Stross or else .
Why has none of Stross ’ brilliant novel been filmed yet ? In any case , Glasshouse is one of his effective , and it ’s a brilliant portrayal of a town that ’s also a dystopian prison , where the multitude are tag . Another good alternative is Catherine Fischer ’s Incarceron , but that ’s already becoming a motion picture .
alternatively of remaking Forbidden Planet …
Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynskijust publish his second order of payment of the screenplayfor this remaking — after the first selective service leak on the internet — and he suggest that it ’ll be full of surprise , include stuff that was n’t in the first version . But give that the pilot was already a remake of Shakespeare ’s The Tempest , we ’re not convinced that trying for the “ surprise ” factor is such a great idea . We eff JMS , but this is a utter example of a film that still defy up .
… Film Lensman instead .
fortunately , JMS ’ other vainglorious - concealment adapation project voice a lot more hopeful . The classical original blank opera house , E.E. “ Doc ” Smith ’s Lensman serial publication has been begging for a flick adaptation for decades now — as long as JMS can strip the icky eugenics stuff and sexism out of the Word , we could be seem at the next Avatar . ( Or the next Green Lantern , really . )
Instead of The Thing prequel …
gravely , a prequel to The affair ? Featuring backstory about the original fate Norwegian outing that we do n’t demand to know , and characters we do n’t necessitate to see die ? ( Including , rumor has it , the chum of Kurt Russell ’s graphic symbol from the original motion-picture show . ) This just seems wrong . Even though it ’s not technically a remake and thus might not fit in this film , we must lodge our courtly protest . Ronald D. Moorewas writing the script , but I believe he ’s been replaced .
… Film Finch by Jeff VanderMeer instead .
In VanderMeer ’s awful Holy Scripture ( despoiler alert ) the foreign spore multitude can take over humans and hold in Brobdingnagian parts of our civilisation . It ’s got much of the same body horror as The Thing , plus the idea of alien life that can take over humans and transform us into parts of them . It packs the same kind of “ foreigner interchange us ” punch , and would make a crackerjack movie .
Instead of redoing When Worlds Collide …
Stephen Sommers ( The Mummy , G.I. Joe ) is on board to take this remaking , with Steven Spielberg collaborate on the script . Hetold Cinefantastique magazine(in the July 2009 issue ) that he ’s still on board , but the project ’s been retard slimly to obviate competing with Emmerich ’s 2012 . or else of a intellectual tale about another world on a collision course of action with Earth , as scientists ready an ark to take some human being to another habitable planet , expect the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower to melt .
… Film Spin By Robert Charles Wilson instead .
It ’s got the same “ global disaster strikes the Earth ” affair , but Wilson ’s narrative of a membrane comprehend the Earth that slow up down time on Earth comparative to the eternal rest of the solar system is more original , and a darn sight more interesting . Unknown existence called “ the Hypotheticals ” have slack down time on the Earth to such an extent , we ’ll be destroyed by the expanding sunlight within one generation . The cagey premise permit human found a colony on Mars and acquire high engineering while comparatively lilliputian time seems to pass on Earth — and the last reveal about why the aliens have done this is the kind of affair the Day The Earth Stood Still remake was run for , and failed to deliver . In the hands of a Duncan Jones or Steven Soderbergh , this could be an instant classic .
Instead of redo The Bride Of Frankenstein …
As of last summertime , Universalwas in talkswith The Illusionist ’s Neil Burger to write and channelize a remake of this James Whale classic , and it ’s bruit to be fix in present - Clarence Day New York . ( Of course , The Wolfman ’s lackluster performance may have sour Universal on monster remake for a while . )
… film John Kessel ’s Pride And Prometheus alternatively .
You require a saucy , witty look at the Frankenstein story ? depend no further than Kessel ’s story , which is alsothe dependable of the recent Jane Austen mash - ups . The Bennet sisters cope with Victor Frankenstein , and after the untested sister Kitty go , her body disapears , and well … you’re able to suppose the rest . A film of “ Pride And Prometheus ” could capitalize on two live trend — but more significantly , it could bring the Frankenstein mythos back to aliveness .
rather of remaking animal From The Black Lagoon …
Another cosmopolitan goliath movie , this property has gone through a bunch of possible manager , admit John Carpenter , Peter Jackson , John Landis , and most latterly The Crazies director Breck Eisner . Now Carl Rinsch is reportedly on board , for a more violent Alien - revolutionize take .
… Film The Scar by China Mieville or else .
This novel , place in the same populace as Perdido Street Station , has a monstrous major theatrical role , the “ remade ” criminal Tanner — but more significantly , it feature the Avanc , a ocean demon that the Lovers rear and set about to capture in their desire to reach the Scar , where realness is in state of flux and anything is potential . Plus there ’s plagiariser ! War ! And a city made up of floating ships . This is the watery goliath account you want .
Instead of remaking The Brood …
After Eisner dropped out of Creature , he was in talk to do this Cronenberg remake rather . But he’ssaida few times recently that he ’s only had preliminary talks , and hemight love the Cronenberg original too muchto try and redo it .
… Film Geek Love by Katherine Dunn rather .
If you require people act out their psychosis through their mutant babies , this is the account book you need . It has the electric potential to be every turn as grotesque and troubling — and horrify — as Cronenberg ’s film . The Binewskis ’ carnival is bumble , so they decide to seek something new : They breed their own freak by using drugs and radioactive substances to turn their own unborn progeny into mutants . Some are golden , like Miranda , who only has a pig tail and works as a ecdysiast . But then there ’s the twisted Arty , who found his own cult called Arturism in which his follower contend to mutilate themselves . Consider this a supplication for the long - await Geek Love picture show .
Instead of remake Flash Gordon …
Unlike The Brood , this may in reality be Eisner ’s next project , assuming The Crazies ’ weak opening - weekend box office does n’t sap the fuel out of its rocket . Thiswould be an “ origin story ” for Flash , clean true to the comics , and would feature lots of satellite - hopping .
… take The Vorkosigan saga by Lois McMaster Bujold instead .
The three - clip Hugo - winning saga of the disabled Miles Vorkosigan and his awesome military career is like Flash Gordon on steroids . Just the story of the Latinian language between Miles ’ parent and the war that play them together could be a whole movie by itself . And Ming only wish well he was as merciless as the Barrayarans at their worst .
Instead of remaking Short Circuit …
After the success of Wall - E , it was moderately much inevitable , no?Steve Carr , director of Paul Blart , Mall Cop , is bond to organize this film , from a script by Robot Chicken ’s Dan Milano . Same deal : A military robot gets strike by lightning and develop a sense of right and wrong , befriend a young son .
… Film When Harlie Was One by David Gerrold .
Still one of the great “ cyber - consciousness go loopy ” stories of all time , Gerrold even rewrote this early 1970s novel in the early 1980s , giving you two versions to opt from . Harlie hit unreal sentience , and then threatens to become nearly divine , all the while running loops around his human creators . The bit where Harlie “ drop down acid ” would make for a pretty uproarious film sequence — although Harlie is n’t nomadic , which could be a dealbreaker .
rather of refashion Metropolis …
Okay , seriously ? The good news is , this remake has n’t been note since 2007 , when producer Thomas Schueler and Mario Kassar bought the right . At the fourth dimension , Schueler said , “ With the overpowering role engineering plays in our everyday lives , the produce gap between rich and short , including the gradual elimination of the midway stratum , the story of ‘ Metropolis ’ is a frightening reflection of our society that make place in an all too possible not too distant future . ”
… Film Virtual Girl by Amy Thomson
Thomson’snovel about a man who creates a robot fair sex who decides to seek her freedom is utterly crying out for a big - screenland version . With show like Caprica exploring robot consciousness , it ’s the pure prison term to explore the linear perspective of a cyber - head that regard a body as a “ peripheral ” and hazard going insane from the hurry of input that the real existence offers .
https://gizmodo.com/amy-thomson-gives-good-alien-355206
Instead of redo rent The Right One In …
… moving picture Fledgling by Octavia Butler
Butler ’s last novel , the first in a serial that we ’ll never see the rest period of now , is really told from the point of view of a 53 - year - old lamia who pass to look like a 10 - year - old black daughter . Butler brings much of the same creepiness as the Swedish film , with the vampires needing seven or eight human Tennessean , called syms ( or symbionts ) to survive — and the syms receive an titillating delight from their state of affairs .
Instead of remake Buffy The Vampire Slayer …
Buffy ? Without Joss?That ’s unpossible . Seriously , it seems like a weird idea , and I ’m not wholly sure what the breaker point would be . We have n’t heard much about this since last May , but like all infernal plots from beneath the Earth ’s surface , I ’m sure it ’s still bubble away .
… Film The Strange Adventures Of Rangergirl by Tim Pratt instead .
It ’s like Buffy squeeze up with Promethea — Marzi is an fine art - school dropout run a quirky Santa Cruz coffeehouse , and it turn out the coffee shop ’s murals are really a kind of art trick , dedicate to keeping an evil strength at bay . And now it ’s break loose . It ’s up to Marzi — and her comic - Scripture fantasy character Rangergirl — to stop the malefic force from getting out into the world .
https://gizmodo.com/buffy-remake-without-joss-whedonites-will-burn-l-a-to-5269598
Instead of remaking Total Recall …
Keep your prat off Mars ! Okay , do n’t panic , but Kurt Wimmer , the mind behind Equilibrium and the “ what the Scheol was that ” Ultraviolet , has been hiredto write a remaking of Dan O’Bannon ’s Greco-Roman handwriting , based on Philip K. Dick ’s writing . Okay , go onward and scare .
… Film Software / Wetware by Rudy Rucker instead .
There are many heirs to Dick ’s crown of outlandishness , but Rucker makes a sheer claim to the Dickian tradition with the first two novel in the “ Ware ” tetralogy . You ’ve got your unknown questions about identity ( as Cobb Anderson becomes his own android duplication ) your weird conspiracies , and your off - Earth context ( the emancipated robots coiffe up shop on the Moon ) . I ’d really be curious to see what Wimmer ( or someone else in Hollywood ) would do with this .
or else of remaking He - Man And The Masters Of The Universe …
Joel Silver ( the manufacturer who ’s spawned his own universe ) has teamed up with author Justin Marks ( Street Fighter : The Legend Of Chun - Li ) to put together a new version of this sagahttp://www.variety.com/article/VR1117 … . in reality , there have only beenvague rumblings of late , but the success of transformer probably makes this film inevitable .
… Film Titan by John Varley instead .
Captain Cirocco “ Rocky ” Jones locomote to Saturn and encounters centaurs , the Titanides , and bird - like puppet , the Angels . She discovers a controlling intelligence information , call Gaea , and becomes its ace - powered agent , or Wizard . It ’s a great blending of space opera house and high - fantasy tropes , and the sodding alternative to another He - Man .
https://gizmodo.com/what-if-every-single-joel-silver-movie-took-place-in-th-382809
https://gizmodo.com/new-toy-movies-to-geek-out-but-not-too-much-5121973
Instead of remaking Logan ’s Run …
It ’s not clear where this project is — Bryan Singer was on display board , with a script by Valkyrie screenwriter Chris McQuarrie , andas recently as a class ago , he was still saying he might do it . But Silver and Tron director Joseph Kosinski were also announce to be making this motion picture at one level . So who can say ?
… shoot any one of a number of dystopian novel instead .
It ’s amazing that there ’s still been no real big - screen door adjustment of Huxley ’s Brave New World , which is in many room the inspiration for Logan ’s Run . ( We ’re still hoping Ridley Scott will get around to this one , as he ’s hint he might . ) But there ’s also Vonnegut ’s Player Piano , Wyndham ’s The Chrysalids , Ness ’ The Knife Of Never Letting Go , and many others .
https://gizmodo.com/will-we-really-see-bryan-singers-logans-run-remake-5138255
Instead of refashion The Fly …
This might be the one remake that ’s worth being excited about . David Cronenberg is directing the remake of his own film , because he ’s excited by the cinema - make possible action of today ’s technology . Given how much Cronenberg ’s directorial skills have matured in the retiring few tenner , it could be entrancing to see how he approaches the story of a teleportation experiment lead wrong this time around . But still …
… Film David Marusek ’s Counting head or else .
We ’d still rather see Cronenberg do something new . How many more Cronenberg photographic film are we going to get ? If we could pick one SF novel for Cronenberg to conform , it would be David Marusek ’s clone - angst novel Counting Heads . It ’s such a Cronenberg history , full of eldritch double characers and nano - plagues . Or else maybe Kathleen Ann Goonan ’s Queen City Jazz , which is packed with eldritch consistency revulsion done in a literary fashion , as citizenry are transform horrifically into former twentieth one C Jazz Age figure by the malfunctioning nanotech metropolis . Or maybe Margaret Atwood ’s Oryx And Crake .
Instead of remaking Highlander …
firm And The ferocious director Justin Lin ishelming this remaking , from a script by Iron Man scribes Matt Holloway and Art Marcum that focuses on the backstory of the immortal . Could be meat , could be bar .
… Film The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan .
You desire epical sword fights , complicated heroes , sweeping backstories and fearsome vaticination ? This novel demands to become a immense , big budget movie . ( Although the copious amount of gay gender might disturb the Hollywood execs slightly . )
https://gizmodo.com/there-should-only-be-one-highlander-reboot-in-the-work-5365587
Instead of refashion Fantastic Voyage …
James Cameron himself is involve in grow this remake , and says that everything we ’ve memorize about medical imagery will make the new motion-picture show much more realistic than the original . No director is named yet , but Cameron seems pretty compulsive to make it happen . And he ’s got a spot of clout these solar day .
… Film Surface Tension by James Blish .
human beings make it on a upstage waterworld , with seed banks to help colonize it with adapted human - alike progeny . But the ship break up and the seed banking concern are ruin — sothe ship ’s crew reengineers their own descendants to become microscopic sea spirit , retaining human intelligence but tighten to a primitive civilization . alternatively of just being temporarily microscopic , these issue of humanity are for good midget , struggling to live on and grow civilization afresh . You could also film Isaac Asimov ’s quasi sequel , Fantastic Voyage 2 : Destination Brain .
alternatively of refashion The Incredible Shrinking Man …
It ’s like all your worst nightmare rolled into one . A remake of Shrinking Man starring Eddie Murphy — and aim by Brett Ratner . Could n’t we just take in Meet Dave on Nyquil alternatively ?
… Film Flyboy Action Figure Comes With Gasmask by Jim Munroe .
really , we ’re not certain we need Eddie Murphy or Brett Ratner anywhere near this awesome novel about a meek - mannered guy who can twist into a fly sheet , and who team up with a woman who can make thing vanish to right social damage . It ’s a uproarious , unearthly , featherbrained Word of God that would make a fantastical movie in the right hands — and really , it already did make fora great short film .
Other upcoming remake we do n’t specially want to see , but we ran out of time to suggest alternative books for : Mannequin , All Of Me , The Illustrated Man , They Live , scanner , Fahrenheit 451 , Weird Science , The Blob , The gentleman Who Fell To Earth , Altered States , The Entity and Westworld .
Additional coverage by Annalee Newitz . Thanks for coming up with some great record ideas !
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