Movies
Steven Spielberg is Reportedly Still Determined to Prevent a ‘Jaws’ Reboot from Happening
Why hasn’t the Jaws franchise been brought back to life in well over 30 years, you ask? That’d be because Steven Spielberg is incredibly protective of the original classic’s legacy, at many points over the years promising to never digitally touch it up and also to never allow for it to be remade. And it seems he still feels just as strongly about that decision today as he ever did.
Deadline notes this week in a report about Spielberg’s dealings with Netflix, “One area [Spielberg] will not revisit is Jaws. Deadline heard recently that Universal broached the subject to reboot Spielberg’s breakout classic, with Spielberg producing, and the answer was a firm no. Some at Universal and Amblin said this was already known and not a recent conversation.”
Spielberg’s Jaws was of course followed by three sequels in 1978, 1983 and 1987, but it seems to be Spielberg and Spielberg alone who has made sure the franchise hasn’t been revived in the 30+ years since Jaws: The Revenge. Other than the original Jaws getting Blu-ray and 4K releases, as well as being re-released into theaters and of course continually spawning new toys, games, and merchandise, the franchise hasn’t even so much as threatened to unleash a new movie all these years. And it sounds like that won’t be changing anytime soon.
So if you’re worried about a Jaws remake bringing new versions of Brody, Hooper and Quint to the big screen, you can cast those worries out to sea. For now, it’s just not happening.
Now how about a sequel to The Shallows? Can we at least get one of those?
Recent comments from producer Jason Blum suggested that a retool was in order when last year’s The Exorcist: Believer wasn’t as successful as Blumhouse and Universal hoped. That certainly seems to be the case, though, as Deadline reports tonight that Mike Flanagan is in talks to direct the next Exorcist movie.
Director David Gordon Green was initially on board to direct an entire trilogy of new movies in the franchise, with The Exorcist: Believer intended to be only the first film in that three-film sequel series. Originally set to hit theaters on April 18, 2025, sequel The Exorcist: Deceiver was delayed when Green left the project.
If talks come to fruition, Flanagan will take over, likely steering the franchise in a new direction.
The first film in the trilogy was released theatrically on October 13, 2023, with Leslie Odom Jr. starring alongside a returning Ellen Burstyn from the original classic.
In Believer, “Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) has raised their daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) on his own.
“But when Angela and her friend Katherine (Olivia Marcum) disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before.”
The final moments of The Exorcist: Believer brought Linda Blair’s Regan MacNeil back into the fold, seeming to suggest that the legacy character could return in future installments.
As for Flanagan, the horror filmmaker has Life of Chuck on the way. Flanagan previously helmed Stephen King adaptations Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game, he’s also known for titles including Ouija: Origin of Evil and Oculus, along with The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Midnight Club and other series.
Stay tuned for more as we learn it.
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