Disney disappoints, ‘Gremlins’ return, and U.S. borrows from Brits: More remake wrongness
Oh good! Showtime is remaking that show nobody cares about
Ever since the seminal British comedy show was released in 2013, people have been begging – begging! – for a U.S. remake of The Wrong Mans featuring the supreme talents of spectacular funnyman James Corden (Gavin & Stacey). Just kidding! All of that was a lie. Every last word of it, especially the stuff about Corden. However, somehow a remake is happening, with original director Jim Field Smith set to shoot the remakes. Corden will serve as an executive producer alongside J.J. Abrams (Star Trek) whose production company Bad Robot is involved for some reason (maybe he’ll make it another unseemly Cloverfield tie in). The one good note about this newly announced Showtime pilot is that it’ll star the beloved Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation), who will hopefully spend all of his time on set singing this into Cordon’s ear.
Gone Girl writer to helm Utopia remake
The industry is really going batshit for Britain right now, huh? Four years after being ordered straight to series (and hitting an apparent dead end at HBO), weird British thriller series Utopia has been ordered by Amazon Studios with Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) serving as the executive producer and showrunner. The nine-episode order will be great news for fans of the pulpy, crime novelist and less than exciting for fans of the original who probably don’t see the point in translating the already flawless show for a US audience. But whatever. Director David Fincher (Zodiac) was originally attached to the project, but production was shut down after budget disagreements. Sadly there’s been no word as to whether the indelible filmmaker will be collaborating once more with Flynn by directing an episode.
A Gremlins reboot was inevitable at this point, wasn’t it?
Everything you love is being tossed into the meat grinder of Hollywood, turning yesterday’s gourmet cinematic feast into the questionable limp meat stick of tomorrow. Now that we’ve got that out of our system, it’s with deep regrets that we share the news Chris Columbus (The Help) has confirmed to Metro US that another Gremlins movie could be on the way and that “it will almost definitely be a reboot.” While talking about the challenges involved in potentially making a Goonies 2, the filmmaker added, “Gremlins, we are actively talking about that. So that’s what I am working on with my production company 1492 Pictures.” Wasn’t one of the rules about caring for a Mogwai something to do with not rebooting an already perfect movie?! Jeez. Leave it alone, people.
Live-action Mulan remake not as queer as it deserves to be
The live-action remake of Mulan has provoked outrage from some fans because “bisexual icon” character Li Shang has been replaced in the script by a more macho dude with totally hetero interests (presumably boobs, beer pong, and beer). In the original animated movie, Li Shang notoriously showed just as much romantic interest in Mulan when she was dressed as a male soldier as he did when she was revealed to be a woman. Not any more, ladies and gentlemen! Li Shang is out and not in the way we’d like. Disney doesn’t have a great track record with this type of thing. For example, in the Beauty and the Beast live-action remake, some fans gave a hard eyeroll at its attempt to represent “gay” character LeFou (Josh Gad). The single scene of representation? A brief moment in which LeFou could be seen dancing with another dude. Good job, Disney.
