I keep hearing about how we are living through a particularly creative, fertile period for filmmakers and television producers. Why, then, do
so many Hollywood releases offer little more than warmed-over concepts and deliberate retreads?
Case in point: Bruce Willis’ Death Wish, a remake of the 1974 movie of that same name starring Charles Bronson as Manhattan architect-turned-vigilante Paul Kersey. In Willis’ version, due out in November, Kersey is re-imagined as a bald Chicago doctor—“a man divided, a grim reaper for bad guys who, as a surgeon, removes bullets from the bodies of suspected criminals,” explains Deadline Hollywood. The trailer features more humor than was to be found in the original Bronson picture (or its four sequels), but otherwise the novelty of this remake appears in notably short supply. It doesn’t even rise to the level of Edward Woodward’s The Equalizer, a 1985-1989 CBS-TV series about a much more urbane purveyor of street-level justice.
Equally worthy of a giant eye-roll is news that NBC-TV wants to bring back Miami Vice, the stylish 1984-1989 crime drama starring Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as a pair of boundaries-pushing Miami-Dade police detectives. Deadline Hollywood reports this series reboot will have “the Fast & Furious duo of Vin Diesel and Chris Morgan producing. The remake, which had been in the works since last season, will be written by Peter Macmanus (The Mist, Satisfaction) and produced by Universal Television, Chris Morgan Productions and Diesel’s One Race TV. No executive producers have been locked in yet, but Morgan and Ainsley Davies of Chris Morgan Productions are expected to serve as EPs along with Diesel and Shana Waterman of One Race and Macmanus. Both Morgan and Diesel have deals with Universal TV.” Deadline Hollywood says this new Miami Vice is “already in the works for next season.”
What’s next, guys, the revival of Magnum, P.I.?
Monday, August 07, 2017
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2 comments:
You are so right. Everything is derivative or just plain boring. Ever think of writing a screenplay?
Totally agree, Jeff. And don't get me started on the proposed Shaft reboot as an action-comedy!! These re-imaginings/reboots distort the author's original creation to such a degree they become a new character/concept. So why not market as such. Instead, they choose to market aginst a brand name in the safe knowledge it will guarantee a certain level of audience.
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