Thanks in no small part to the massive box office success of A Quiet Place this year, the dudes behind Platinum Dunes have dedicated themselves to developing more original genre movies and leaving remakes in the past. Dunes of course rose to prominence as a horror remake studio, churning out new takes on Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street in their early days. And several other remakes were once planned.
Speaking with Shock Waves this week, Dunes producer Brad Fuller touched upon the various remakes the company has produced over the years, while also sharing some insights into some that never came to be: Halloween, Near Dark and The Monster Squad.
On Halloween…
“We went after Halloween hardcore and we couldn’t get it. I think we had it for a minute… or we didn’t get it… that was complicated. But we were in the hunt… for a long time.”
On Near Dark…
“We went down the road on Near Dark with Sam Bayer (director of A Nightmare on Elm Street). Chris Landon (Happy Death Day) did the script for us. It was really good. It’s a good draft. It’s a really good draft.”
On The Monster Squad…
“It might still be [on the table]. That’s a property that we love. I think Shane Black is just a master of what he does, and Fred Dekker… the two of them in a room is super fun. I think at the time, when we were trying to make that at Paramount, we had a really fun script. As times goes by… certain things will seem ridiculous… but there was a time when kids couldn’t be in dangerous situations. So we couldn’t figure out how to have that happen with the kids not really being in peril… so it kind of felt like a feathered fish. Frankly, on The Monster Squad, we couldn’t figure out [what gave that movie a reason to exist]. It was great… the script is hilarious. Mark and Brian Gunn wrote a really, really fun script. But we couldn’t get it to the point where it had to happen. So. It died.”
Be sure to listen to the full chat on Shock Waves for all sorts of interesting insights.
