While there’s been concern for a while now that Hollywood is losing its creative inspiration, there’s always been the really great films to console us. The films that dare to be different, to be original. The ones that don’t spoon feed an audience or play to viewer stereotypes. However these saving graces are becoming fewer and further between and if the next couple of years are any indication, the grim reality of Hollywood’s demise as one of the greatest forms of entertainment in the world will soon come. Most recently, this crushing realisation was brought home by the news that Christopher Nolan’s 2000 masterpiece Memento is getting a remake. I repeat, this movie was made in 2000 and was a resounding success. And they’re remaking it.
Starring Guy Pearce, the film told the unique story of a man with short term memory loss, trying to track down his wife’s murderer. The film plays out using two storylines, one moving chronologically forward, the other moving back. The film had intrigue and originality, it was well directed and well acted which is why it was rated so highly. Now Hollywood has the grand plan of doing it over an achieving the same result, no way. It’s a bad idea but one that is all too common these days.
AMBI pictures, under the direction of Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi, have announced they will finance the project. The company has the rights to the film after acquiring Exclusive Media Group, which also boasts Cruel Intentions and Donnie Darko among its titles. That’s worrying. For the love of everything sacred, please don’t remake Donnie Darko.
There’s no information so far on who would star in or direct this remake but Monika Bacardi assures us that it will be just as good as the original classic, saying in a statement;
“We intend to stay true to Christopher Nolan’s vision and deliver a memorable movie that is every bit as edgy, iconic and award-worthy as the original. It’s a big responsibility to deliver something that lives up to the mastery of the original, but we are extremely excited and motivated to bring this puzzle back to life and back into the minds of moviegoers.”
Remaking a film that isn’t old enough to drive or legally drink isn’t the only wacky thing that is going in Hollywwod. New posters have been released this week for The Hunstman: Winter’s War, a sequel to 2012’s Snow White and the Huntsman, which did okay but was nothing groundbreakingly amazing and was quickly forgotten. However it’s been sensed that there’s money to be had here considering two contracted stars in Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron have both recently starred in blockbusters like The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Mad Max: Fury Road. On top of that, the filmmakers have somehow managed to rope Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastein into the project, presumably for big pay cheques because this does not seem like the movie they would go for at this stage of their respective careers. The plot reportedly reads as follows:
Long before the evil Queen Ravenna (Theron) was thought vanquished by Snow White’s blade, she watched silently as her sister, Freya (Blunt), suffered a heart-breaking betrayal and fled their kingdom. With Freya’s ability to freeze any enemy, the young ice queen has spent decades in a remote wintry palace raising a legion of deadly huntsmen—including Eric (Hemsworth) and warrior Sara (Chastain)—only to find that her prized two defied her one demand: Forever harden your hearts to love.
When Freya learns of her sister’s demise, she summons her remaining soldiers to bring the Magic Mirror home to the only sorceress left who can harness its power. But once she discovers Ravenna can be resurrected from its golden depths, the wicked sisters threaten this enchanted land with twice the darkest force it’s ever seen. Now, their amassing army shall prove undefeatable…unless the banished huntsmen who broke their queen’s cardinal rule can fight their way back to one another.
Adding to what promises to be a disaster is the fact that the sequel will be directed by a man with no directorial experience, the original films’ master of visual effects, Cedric Nicolas-Troyan.
Other films in the long-line of reboots to come include the all-female versions of Ghost Busters and Oceans Eleven. While it’s perfectly admirable to gender swap, these films don’t promise much new material in the way of story.
Remakes, sequels and franchises have been a thing for a long time yes, but it seems like there’s just an endless stream of them now. Marvel is one big franchise, as is DC. We have Alien 5 in production, the apparently infinite Fast and Furious films, the horrendous Paranormal Activity series. You start to get the picture. Hollywood has lost it’s daring, it’s creativity, it’s genuine inspiration. That’s why it’s so important to celebrate it when it does come along. This means applauding the truly great directors of our time and rewarding the good films they produce.
Otherwise, cinema could very well die. The box office is already suffering in what should be a serious warning to the industry.
