Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: 'Lethal Weapon' and Other Remakes Warner Really Wants To Do

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Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 01-20-2011, 06:00 PM:

'Lethal Weapon' and Other Remakes Warner Really Wants To Do

Source: Iwatchstuff.com

quote:
Not content to take the lessons learned from Cop Out and leave it, Warner Bros. is reportedly making a reboot of Lethal Weapon a high priority on their calendar of terribles. "I am not yet old enough for these events," new, younger Murtaugh will say! Additionally, the studio has revealed that it thinks remaking Sam Peckinpah's classic western, The Wild Bunch, is a good idea, and confirmed that the long in-development remakes of Westworld, The Dirty Dozen, Oh, God!, and Tarzan are all still very much things we'll unfortunately see on screens.

News of these awfuls is coming out now due to the departure of longtime exec Jessica Goodman, whose filing cabinet of invaluable ideas like "remake Lethal Weapon?" and "Tarzan again?" has just been thrown into the Warner Bros. executive cafeteria, where, the Hollywood Reports claims, "The properties will now get fresh and hungry eyes -- and talent agents are already chatting up the potential projects and listing clients they can pitch for directing or writing gigs." So how long until the writer of Wild Hogs will have a first draft of Wild Bunch?

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 01-21-2011, 02:42 AM:

BIG mistake. There is still enough room for another Lethal Weapon movie. Gibson and Glover could pull it off and it would be a hit, their fan base is still alive. Not the Lethal Weapon fan base per say, but the Gibson/Glover fan base.

Maybe one more ride where one of them almost dies and you don't know if they make it?

What a cliffhanger.

To make is successful, no Pesci and no Chris Rock. It needs to be ultra violent

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-21-2011, 11:28 AM:

quote: Tom Petrov
Gibson and Glover could pull it off and it would be a hit, their fan base is still alive.

That's got nothing to do with it. Mel Gibson has pretty much trashed his rep in the last few years, plus he and Glover REALLY ARE too old for this shit, so putting them in a LW remake would be boxoffice suicide. They need a reboot, a la Dark Knight.

I don't know why people get their panties in a wad over remakes. There have been remakes since Hollywood was about 10 years old. The only difference is that in the past, the new generation of fans wouldn't have ever seen the original version. Now, the "original" version never goes away thanks to TV and video.

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 01-21-2011, 02:17 PM:

Back in 1931, Warner Brothers made a film called The Maltese Falcon starring Ricardo Cortez as the detective Sam Spade. The leaden acting and slow pacing makes the film hard to watch. Ten years later in 1941, they remade the film, from an almost word for word identical script, with Humphrey Bogart in the lead role. This version is a great film and deservedly a classic. Goes to show not all remakes are worse than the original.

And before anyone comments, yes, I known that Warner Brothers also remade the film in 1936 as Satan Met A Lady, but although based on the same story, it was not really a remake.

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 01-21-2011, 03:03 PM:

Remaking Lethal Weapon with new actors is not what is needed. A Lethal Weapon 5 can be made. There is still enough interest among the Gibson/Glover fans to pull it off. Alos, you would need Richard Donner.

Contrast that to Nolte/Murphy, it would never work with them.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-21-2011, 03:40 PM:

quote: Tom Petrov
There is still enough interest among the Gibson/Glover fans to pull it off.

I doubt that.

First of all, Mike is right. Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are getting pretty old to play buddy cop action movie characters. Gibson just turned 54. Danny Glover is 64. Some actors, such as Bruce Willis, seem to still be doing well in the mid 50's age range, but the thing with Bruce Willis is he's still making lots of movies and maintained his movie star persona. Gibson and Glover haven't.

The tabloid press has had a field day covering Mel Gibson's melt downs. Some of Gibson's comments, the controversy surrounding The Passion of the Christ and perhaps his political and religious views have landed him on the bad side of power brokers in Hollywood. Any displays of anti-semiticism or fire breathing conservatism can be career suicide in Hollywood no matter who you are. That's just how it is.

Danny Glover's biggest problem with landing an action role is that he's probably just too old to pull it off convincingly. Hell, his Roger Murtaugh character was already "too old for this shit" back in 1987 and ready to retire then. A character can't make a 20 plus year run of being ready to retire. That's just silly. Glover is playing all sorts of older guy characters now anyway. He also raised some eyebrows hob-knobbing with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

I'm not in favor of Lethal Weapon being re-made. What could Hollywood do with that vehicle that hasn't already been done? The original is a classic action movie and the Riggs character will always be associated with Mel Gibson. A new version with new actors will probably be forgettable like Starsky & Hutch with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. Yawn.

Another problem is the buddy cop action movie genre is pretty worn out now. Shitty sequels to Rush Hour and lackluster movies like Cop Out have made the formula really tired.

Warner Bros. just needs to develop some other kind of cop movie instead of a re-hash of Lethal Weapon. The studio has released other successful cop movies in the past, such as Bullitt in the 1960's, Dirty Harry in the 1970's and Lethal Weapon in the 1980's. What's wrong with coming up with a new movie idea?

quote: Mike Blakesley
I don't know why people get their panties in a wad over remakes.

Lots of people are getting their panties in a wad over remakes because Hollywood has already been over-doing it with remakes for the past decade and now it seems like they're raising the remake trend to a whole new level of intensity.

While it's true Hollywood has been re-making movies since the silent film era, I can't think of any previous period in film history where as many movies have been "re-imagined" compared to what is happening today.

In the broader context, all of those remakes are sitting aside countless numbers of sequels, big screen versions of TV shows and movies based on super heroes, video games and now even board games. I don't think Hollywood's major studios have been anywhere as derivative with their movie output as they are today.

With movie versions of Battleship and Ouija board games in development I wonder how far Hollywood can go with this. The Jackass movies might set the stage for various reality TV shows to get big screen treatment. How about movie versions of infomercials? Girls Gone Wild: The Movie, Shamwow: The Movie, Snuggie: The Movie. I'm not joking. Hollywood has grown so bad with this nonsense that those shitty movie ideas actually seem viable. Slapchop: The Movie -in 3D! Maybe the Dyson vacuum cleaner guy is working on a movie deal.

When Inception was released last summer I saw news articles that actually called the movie risky since it wasn't based on a previous movie, TV show, stage play, novel, graphic novel, comic book, video game, news event, mythological event, etc. That's pretty sad. Inception is simply a movie made in the old school manner.

In previous decades not so many movies were re-made. Certain unspoken rules seemed to be followed when producing those remakes. Around 20 or so years needed to separate most remakes from their original unless the original was a foreign language film or something. The original movie had to be outdated and out of fashion in some respect and be in need of a contemporary facelift; the original certainly couldn't be an enduring classic. The re-make not only had to be really good, but it had to bring something new to the table that the original lacked. Hollywood studios have been violating all those rules lately.

I liked the 70's remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I thought David Cronenberg's 1986 remake of The Fly was excellent. Both were very different from the original movies and entertaining in their own ways. Recent remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street and various other remakes of 70's and 80's horror movies have all SUCKED. And this is just the horror genre.

A Star Is Born has been remade a few times. The original, starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, was released in 1937. The CinemaScope version with Judy Garland was released in 1954. A rock and roll story line was used in the 1976 version starring Barbra Streisand. That was also one of the first movies to have 70mm 6-track mag prints encoded with Dolby noise reduction. Naturally, another version of A Star Is Born is apparently in development, with a 2012 release time line. What's planned for this version? An American Idol style storyline, in 3D?

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 01-21-2011, 04:00 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
I doubt that.

Wrong!

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-21-2011, 04:17 PM:

Tom: First of all, the last LW didn't do all that great business compared to the previous films. And the genre is way more dead today than it was when that movie was made. Secondly, Richard Donner is 81 this year so he may not be all that hyped on doing a buddy cop action movie.

Your problem is every time you make a dopey post, you can't ever admit you were wrong even when your post is challenged by people with years and years more experience in this business than you have.

Posted by Michael Barry (Member # 237) on 01-21-2011, 04:21 PM:

I want 'Snuggie: The Movie' on Blu Ray with hours of bonus content. I also want the option to stream the movie directly to my iPhone, as well as sync directly to my other portable devices.

Other possibilities include:

Snuggie: The IMAX Experience
Snuggie: 3D
Snuggie 2: Even Snuggier

[Smile]

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 01-21-2011, 05:35 PM:

Michael, get off the drugs.

Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 01-21-2011, 06:06 PM:

A sequel would be appropriately titled: "Not-so-Lethal Weapon".

Posted by Michael Barry (Member # 237) on 01-21-2011, 07:11 PM:

John: Hehe [Smile]

Bobby's post really inspired me. I loved his infomercial-come-movie rant. Brilliant!

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 01-22-2011, 12:03 AM:

I jusht couldn't lishen to Danny Glover talking with thoshe really awful denturesh for a whole movie. You'd think he could afford a better dentisht.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-22-2011, 04:20 AM:

Oh man he sounded horrible in Shooter.

quote: Tom Petrov
Wrong!

That is a convincing argument you have there. You have hereby won me over to your side. I will join you in doing battle against Bobby and Mike.

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 01-23-2011, 03:21 AM:

All three of the principal cast such Gibson, Glover, Pesci could use a LW5 to revive their careers. What a has Pesci done since Lethal Weapon 4?............2 movies, how about Glover? Nothing important and Mel Gibson, not going to say anything as I don't let what he does outside of movies affect my opinion of him.

As for Donner and being 81 and doing action? So what! He was 77 when he made 16 Blocks with Bruce Willis. Clint Eastwood is 80. Godard is 80....age has nothing to do with anything.....those who think otherwise are a bunch of trans fat, burger eating sissys.

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 01-23-2011, 12:35 PM:

Amazing. Every time I think Tom can't say anything stupider that what he did before, he manages to top himself. [Big Grin]

I think I'm actually beginning to like him. [Eek!]

With that said, ( [puke]

) I agree with Bobby, it is a no-win proposition, for many of the reasons he pointed out.

Tom, if you really want to win us over, come up with an ORIGINAL idea for a film and who knows, you may get rich!

If I can ever get my novel finished it MIGHT make a good movie....at least it's original.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-23-2011, 12:44 PM:

Jeez Tom, I can't figure out if you are a troll or just an idiot.

I never said that Donner COULD NOT do a buddy cop action movie. I said that he MIGHT NOT BE wanting to do one at age 81. Try reading what I write.

There's no question whether those guys could use a hit movie. The question is whether the public would buy it. That last Harrison Ford action film was no blockbuster, after all.

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 01-23-2011, 12:57 PM:

I'm throwing this out there like the hillbillys on the youtube videos who add more gasoline to a bonfire...
I have noticed the SAW franchise is dead.
I think the producers need to go to Warner Bros and propose a remake of The Wild Bunch.
This would "make perfect sense" to their executives and get green lighted.
Maybe "Straw Dogs."
Include Larry The Cable Guy in it somewhere...

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 01-23-2011, 03:06 PM:

James, SAW is not completely dead. The latest did decent money for the budget it had I think that had to do with the 3D, if it did not have 3D then it would of really bombed. It almost tripled its money. However the gross was nowhere near the budget/gross of the first few.

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 01-24-2011, 01:01 AM:

Next you are going to tell me that there will be another Final Destination movie in 3D...
*looks at release calendar*
OH SHIT!

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 01-24-2011, 04:15 PM:

As much as I would like to see another LW movie, it will never happen. All the principles are beyond the series.

Pesci didn't do anything for the longest time because he retired. Glover is not a leading actor anymore. He really never was, as far as Gibson goes. I've always been a fan but he does not have the draw that he ever had. Edge of Darkness was a huge bomb, if the regular movie going public was really interested in seeing him in a movie then it would of done better then $43 million.

A rehash of LW or a direct sequel would be horrible. As far as Donner goes, the last movie he made was 16 Blocks in 2006, which was shot in 2005 so its been six years since he has made a movie. I think he just might be enjoying his retirement.

Posted by Mike Carro (Member # 232) on 01-28-2011, 09:14 AM:

While Mel and probably Pesci could pull it off - a resounding NO to Danny Glover's snake hissing teeth.

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 01-28-2011, 12:54 PM:

Jason Statham and Danzel Washington lets bring it on....

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 01-28-2011, 08:18 PM:

Just an absolute dreadful idea to do another with the principles: you know it'd suck.

As for a re-boot, it could work, but my how boring it would probably be. I agree with many others: make an original movie for once and give this un-original crap a rest for awhile.

Next thing we know, they are going to re-make Sound of Music...

AJG

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 01-28-2011, 10:53 PM:

...starring Britney Spears...

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 01-28-2011, 10:55 PM:

quote: Mike Carro
While Mel and probably Pesci could pull it off - a resounding NO to Danny Glover's snake hissing teeth.

Well, it could work if Glover's first line is "I'm getting too old for this Shit...." and drops dead [evil]

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-01-2011, 06:43 PM:

Warners aren't the only ones doing stupid remakes.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show to be remade.