Black Mesa: So Close I Can Smell It

Black Mesa, the total remake and modernization of the original Half-Life game seems to be getting closer and closer to completion but if previous fan remakes are anything to go by we'll never see it.

Well, OK, maybe we'll never *play* it as you can actually see it right here in glorious internet widescreen! I was mildly interested after seeing screenshots from previous iterations but this trailer really gets my blood running hot... oooh baby.

*fingers crossed* they make their 2009 projected release date (if you can call an entire year a release date).

The Real Return of 50s Communist Paranoia Sci Fi

The new trailer for The Day The Earth Stood Still (DTESS) was released onto the tubes today (see below) and I must say, I'm more than a little excited about it. Keanu Reeves is back in his Neo-like broody mood getting his freaky alien shiz on as Klaatu, the freaky alien shiz guy in a human suit.

DTESS is a modern retelling of the classic 50s sci fi film with the same name about an alien visitor (that'd be Klaatu) and his giant chrome robot (no, not Bender). Judging by the new (lengthy) trailer the design of the robot is remarkably similar to the original and it has LASERS!

The remake is directed by Scott Derrickson, the man behind The Exorcism of Emily Rose, so expect some scary moments. It stars Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates and John Cleese. Plus, for the sci fi nerds out there, Battlestar Galactica's Aaron "Chief" Douglas makes an appearance as Sgt Winter, not to be confused with Captain/Major Winters.

DTESS is due for release this December (12th in the US, 26th in Australia).

Ninja Scroll Gets Real

I appears that Hollywood is getting tired of remaking Japanese horror movies and Spanish thrillers and has moved on to elsewhere for their source of "new" ideas. Coming to a theatre near you in the next few years are remakes of Anime classics Battle Angel Alita, Akira and Astro Boy and you can now add one more to the list.

Today Warner Brothers announced that they have acquired the rights to, and will be making a live action remake of, Ninja Scroll. IMDb's plot outline for the original reads, "A ninja-for-hire is forced into fighting an old nemesis who is bent on overthrowing the Japanese government. His nemesis is also the leader of a group of demons each with superhuman powers."

I'm not sure how Warner Bros. will tackle some of the scenes from the anime like the giant rock-man raping the poisoned ninja girl or the naked woman whose snake tattoos spring to life and writhe around her body or the endless limb slicing and body hacking. Either they make an R Rated film which the fanboys will poo poo and won't make much money or they make a PG film which the fanboys will poo poo but will make a lot of money... hmmm.

I'll keep my eyes on this one.

V: The Rebooted Series

It was only a matter of time before another big show from the 80s was rebooted for this, the second coming of the 80s. The news today is that ABC has been working on a remake of the old 80s classic "V" (also known as "V: The Miniseries", "V: The Final Battle", "V: The Series", "V: The Energy Drink" and "V: The Drug from True Blood").

This time round the writing is being done by The 4400 co-creator/executive producer Scott Peters, so at least it's being written by someone who is familiar with aliens.

According to Variety, the original V served as an allegory for the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. Scott Peters said he won't being relying on Nazis for his remix but rather on what happens when the masses have blind faith in their leaders. Gee, I wonder who they might be talking about?

To quote Movieweb, "...even without the same storyline, the original V's bones will remain: As in the '80s version, the show will open with an enormous army of spaceships hovering over the world's major cities. The visitors say they've come to help Earth, but their motives are nefarious (in the original, they wanted to steal the world's water supply)." Oooooh... a mystery! I just hope they don't repeat the same shots that Roland Emmerich ripped off when he made ID4.

I wonder how this will effect Kenneth Johnson's plans to make a motion picture of V.

Robocop Remake Not For Kiddies

Just a quick update on the upcoming Robocop remake. Joblo tells me that the producer of the film, Mike Medavoy, reckons the new one will most likely be rated R. None of the shonky PG rated Robocop shinanigans.

Medavoy says, “Well I was involved with the original ‘Robocop,’ and it was an R, and the likelihood is that this will be an R... It’s likely to be an R unless the director cuts back on some of it.”

Seeing as Darren Aronofsky didn't shy away from Requiem for a Dream's rating I think Robocop will be in safe hands.

Robocop Greenlit With Aronofsky Directing

Further to my post the other day about Darren Aronofsky being in talks with MGM to do a remake of Robocop comes a JoBlo report that they've stopped talking and have started acting.

MGM has greenlit the project with the aforementioned Aronofsky at the helm and David Self at the writer's desk. It has a 2010 release date but no mention of when/where/how the film is set or what the plotline is or who will be starring... probably Christian Bale if you ask me.

I'm looking forward to this one.

Darren Aronofsky In Talks To Direct Robocop Remake

Movieweb is reporting that a story in the Hollywood Reporter about Red Dawn mentions that the studio responsible is also in talks with Darren "Pi" Aronofsky / Darren "Requiem for a Dream" Aronofsky / Darren "The Fountain" Aronofsky to direct the remake of 1987's Robocop.

You may recall that the crazy dutch director Paul Verhoeven was at the helm last time round so I'm not sure how Aronofsky will do in comparison. Just so long as he doesn't make it an emo fest like a certain Taiwanese director did with a certain large green super hero.

V: The Second Generation

I was just chatting with Matt about the old V series we watched on the telly back in the 1980s and how, seeing as everything else is being remade, they should remake V. Well, after a huge 5 seconds of Googling I found this article about a new V feature film (and sequels) that are being worked on.

Kenneth Johnson, the creator of the original show had this to say, "... since I own the motion picture rights to V, we’re in the process to do a remake of the original mini-series first as a theatrical feature, which I’m so jazzed about because it will give me an opportunity to really realize it and execute it in a way that was impossible to do back then. Then that will lead to the obvious sequel, because it is a franchise, and then we’ll get into The Second Generation and I'm hoping we’ll be able to do two movies, because there’s certainly enough material in the novel to warrant two separate sequels. That’s my goal at this point and that’s what we’re in the process of doing. I just literally came from a meeting, 15-20 minutes ago with a fellow in Beverly Hills who really says that we’re gonna do it."

Woo hoo! Now the dodgy effects of people eating rodents can be renewed into dodgy CG effects of people eating rodents. Can't wait to see the spiffy suits (with giant sunnies) and the Star Trek rip-off landing craft.