Movies
‘The Raid’ Remake Delayed Until…
There’s nothing worse than finding out a studio rushed into production to fit the schedule of an actor, or because of a ballooning budget – the results are rarely good.
That’s why you have to commend the ones that exercise patience in order to get things “just right,” even though there’s the obvious risk of said film entertaining development hell by waiting too long.
After having its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011, Sony Screen Gems announced plans to remake The Raid with stars Frank Grillo and Taylor Kitsch, and had Patrick Hughes set to direct.
The movie never came into fruition, but a sequel to the foreign film did. /Film caught up with Grillo to find out why it never went into production, and found out it’s because the studio is seeking the perfect star.
“‘The Raid’ was a go movie and there was one character, the critical character, that they were just not happy with. There’s not a lot of 30-something guys out there that… there’s a lot of training, a lot of martial arts training. They weren’t going to remake ‘The Raid,’ which is a beloved film, if they couldn’t find a guy who could find the physical stuff and they hadn’t been able to do that. So I think we’re going to come back around after I’m done with the second 10 [episodes of “Kingdom”]. We’re going to come back around to that.”
Gareth Evans directed The Raid in which a S.W.A.T. team becomes trapped in a tenement run by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and thugs.
Taylor Kitsch isn’t the kind of guy you throw into a martial arts-heavy project, and it doesn’t help that his star power took a tremendous hit after Battleship and John Carter. It sounds as if the filmmakers and studio execs are just being smart in this case…
Hollywood is serious about landing the next Backrooms. Hot on the heels of a Siren Head feature announcement, Deadline reports that a new movie based on viral YouTube series The Mandela Catalogue is in development.
It also has some Hollywood heavy hitters behind it.
Amblin Entertainment’s Steven Spielberg, United Artists’ Scott Stuber (Frankenstein), and Amazon MGM Studios are set to produce, emerging victorious after a highly competitive 11-studio bidding war.
Launched in 2021, the YouTube series is set in the fictional Mandela County, Wisconsin which is “invaded by shape-shifting, nearly immortal creatures called Alternates. The Alternates are led by a false depiction of the Archangel Gabriel and their aim is to wipe out the human race by psychologically torturing them to the point of suicide. The Alternates are known for manipulating AV media, TVs, computers and GPS systems.”
The movie will be directed by the series’ creator, Alex Kister, based on a screenplay he adapted with Tyler Clifton.
The Mandela Catalogue has racked up an impressive 100 million views across its official episodes alone, solidifying it as one of the largest original analog horror franchises on YouTube.
Spielberg and Holly Bario are producing for Amblin Entertainment alongside Aaron B. Koontz for Paper Street Pictures and Stuber and Nick Nesbitt for United Artists. Kister and Clifton are also producing. Annie McCreery will oversee the project for United Artists. Maria Fortese will oversee for Amblin.
Get acquainted with The Mangela Catalogue below while we wait to learn more.
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