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Poltergeist reboot delayed: Why not forever?
When we first heard of a contemplated reboot of Poltergeist, Tobe Hooper's classic ghost story, our first reaction was "Why?" and our second was cold fear, as if the spirit of a little blond girl had passed right through us.
So imagine our (slight) relief to hear that MGM is postponing the movie, original slated for a Thanksgiving 2010 release, according to Bloody-Disgusting.com:
GM contacted to us to let us know that the film will go into production in early 2010, so the film just couldn't have been done in time for the November release.
The movie's been bumped to an undetermined 2011 date.
Vadim Perelman (House of Sand and Fog) will direct the movie, which will presumably revisit the story of a suburban family whose house is haunted by the spirits from an old Indian burial ground. Juliet Snowden and Stiles White drafted the screenplay.
Could this have something to do with MGM's reported financial difficulties?
Of course, our fond hope would be that the new film does justice to the 1982 original, on which we can see no need for improvement: Everything in it is perfect, from the tragic Heather O'Rourke's Carol Anne to the tragic Dominique Dunne's teen Dana to JoBeth Williams' pot-smoking mama who swims with corpses to Zelda Rubinstein's creepy, diminutive Tangina, who warns us to stay out of the light.
By WookieeMonster at 4:09 PM ON 10/14/09
So, in another twenty to thirty years Hollywood will bombard us with remakes of remakes?
Think I'll walk into the light.
By Mechagamera at 4:37 PM ON 10/14/09
WookieMonster, that thought is scarier than anything Hollywood has put out in years. Ha! Ha! Of course, fanboys being fanboys, on scifiwire.com, someone one will be saying how the 1st remake was perfect and being upset that it is being remade again....
By trooper at 5:17 PM ON 10/14/09
The thing about remakes is that the originals don't disappear. Poltergeist (on of my favorite movies, scared the crap out of me when I was about 8, entertains me to no end to this day) is getting the BR treatment, or has gotten it recently. I like upgrades, if they are that, I go back to the classic if they are not. Somehow I like to see a new take on an old favorite. So stop being negative and biassed. If you don't want to watch it, then don't. If you do, then do. If it's good, so much the better, if it's not, the old one never left.
By InfiniteMonkey at 5:50 PM ON 10/14/09
I'm all for remaking Poltergeist! Yeah! Just please call it POOPY IN YOUR FACE!!!
By q at 5:55 PM ON 10/14/09
Until just recently "Poltergeist" was by far the most visually extreme horror movie ever made.... and I'm talkin' about the SFX (obviously not the "gore"). Poltergeist was like the Star Wars of horror in my opinion, and so for decades this made it my favorite scary movie. A remake is completely unnecessary, but another entry into the franchise as a "sequel" would be welcome. It would be a fitting marriage to see all those crazy spooky visuals with today's SFX. Somehow I doubt they'd let it slide as a family-friendly horror film these days though, unfortunately. With no one actually dying in the entire story it sure made one heck of uniquely awesome horror film!
By Fortress at 6:08 PM ON 10/14/09
Oh Ghods, not another bloody reboot. Is every brain cell in Hollywood dead? Can there be no original thought in the whole town? Tired of reboots, remakes and rehashes of the same old tired crap on the Big Screen. I'll be one person that won't waste money with movies anymore. I'll buy books.
By Mandy at 6:59 PM ON 10/14/09
They should not remake this movie. It's a classic and perfect as is. Let's not and say we did. Few people knwo this film was loosely based on the true ghost story of the Black Hope Cemetery. The true story gets told in the film Grave Secrets (the one with Dark Shadows' David Shelby starring in it). Some people say this film franchise is cursed because the true story wasn't acknowledged. Leave it alone. Let sleeping ghosts lie.
By Bluesman at 7:22 PM ON 10/14/09
Don't you think the original director, Spielberg, might have something to say about that? Oh wait, they gave Tobe Hooper the screen credit didn't they. If Tobe had actually been allowed to direct his vision, it would have been even scarier.
By Omen at 7:27 PM ON 10/14/09
The real horrors are the remakes.
The brainless are running H'wood.
Done of whom would qualify as zombies.
By Jarrod at 9:02 PM ON 10/14/09
How about we just stop remaking movies?
By hermy at 9:08 PM ON 10/14/09
the original is a classic.why don't they just come up original movie idea.plus there is so much bad mojo with that series they just need to leave well enough alone.
By InfiniteMonkey at 9:19 PM ON 10/14/09
LOL!! @Jarrod, Okay mate lets and see what happens LOL!!!!!
Its Hollywood! LOL!
By divephotog at 10:59 AM ON 10/15/09
Have to agree with most... Stop the Remakes!!!!!
Are all the brain cells dead in Hollywood, from drinking & drugs, that there are no more original ideas to be filmed?
One has to realize that the biggest screen movie attractions have been the most original. Look over the lists of the biggest grosers, and there is not one remake in the first 100, and the only reboots in the second are big screen adaptations of TV fare. Sure, SEQUELS abound, but not re-filming another man's work.
So, here is to buying an EEG system, and hooking it up to all the Hollywood big execs, and seeing who has a brain and who doesn't, as we know the guys behind this ploy surely do not. - kh
By Leto_II at 10:59 AM ON 10/15/09
God forbid Hollywood should remember the sanctity of original ideas. I'd sure hate to go the movies and see something I've never seen before.
Paranormal Activity ftw.
By Mehtos at 8:09 PM ON 10/15/09
Please don't do a remake of a true classic. Look at what happened to Psycho.
By Meezer at 9:41 AM ON 10/16/09
I'm starting to think the wire staff is creating opionated headlines just to piss us off and make us continue reading.
By dephigravity at 12:01 PM ON 10/19/09
I actually like the idea of reboots/ remakes, depending on the movie of course (ie Stepford Wives what were they thinking.) Poltergeist scared the crap out of me as a kid I would like to see what a fresh take on it would be minus the whole Kane angle from 2 and 3. I am also curious to see the fresh new take on Freddy in A Nightmare on Elm Street, I just finished rewatching all those films and I for one am happy to see they are taking a more serious and sinister tone to those movies than the cartoonish slapstick approach that the later movies in that series toon on.
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dephigravity:
I actually like the idea of reboots/ remakes, depending on the movie of course (ie Stepford Wives what were they th...More »