Movies
MGM Has No Rules for Remaking ‘Poltergeist’
Recently freed from a crushing $4 billion debt, MGM’s new studio management in February told Hollywood’s talent agencies it was moving ahead with plans to reboot five movie franchises, including Steven Spielberg’s 1982 horror hit, Poltergeist. Now Vulture hears that the studio has offered Pulitzer-prize winning playwright cum screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole) the job of reimagining the paranormal classic.
Reached by Vulture, Lindsay-Abaire confirmed he’d been approached by MGM and offered the job, but emphasized that no deal had been reached and stressed that he was not yet even sure he wanted to take it.
The good news: Insiders tell the site that MGM has no creative parameters for a Poltergeist remake — it would be Lindsay-Abaire’s to shape in whatever fashion he chooses, should he want the job. Think Dawn of the Dead 2004.
The immediately revival comes a big late as the studio is just now recognizing that paranormal happenings are popular (i.e. Insidious and Paranormal Activity). They expect this to be a huge franchise. No word on if Vadim Perelman is still attached to direct.
Movies
’28 Years Later’ – Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson Join Long Awaited Sequel
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland (Annihilation, Men), the director and writer behind 2002’s hit horror film 28 Days Later, are reteaming for the long-awaited sequel, 28 Years Later. THR reports that the sequel has cast Jodie Comer (Alone in the Dark, “Killing Eve”), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), and Ralph Fiennes (The Menu).
The plan is for Garland to write 28 Years Later and Boyle to direct, with Garland also planning on writing at least one more sequel to the franchise – director Nia DaCosta is currently in talks to helm the second installment.
No word on plot details as of this time, or who Comer, Taylor-Johnson, and Fiennes may play.
28 Days Later received a follow up in 2007 with 28 Weeks Later, which was executive produced by Boyle and Garland but directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Now, the pair hope to launch a new trilogy with 28 Years Later. The plan is for Garland to write all three entries, with Boyle helming the first installment.
Boyle and Garland will also produce alongside original producer Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice, the former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures, the division of one-time studio Twentieth Century Fox that originally backed the British-made movie and its sequel.
The original film starred Cillian Murphy “as a man who wakes up from a coma after a bicycle accident to find England now a desolate, post-apocalyptic collapse, thanks to a virus that turned its victims into raging killers. The man then navigates the landscape, meeting a survivor played by Naomie Harris and a maniacal army major, played by Christopher Eccleston.”
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) is on board as executive producer, though the actor isn’t set to appear in the film…yet.
Talks of a third installment in the franchise have been coming and going for the last several years now – at one point, it was going to be titled 28 Months Later – but it looks like this one is finally getting off the ground here in 2024 thanks to this casting news. Stay tuned for more updates soon!
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