'Dawn of the Dead' being remade

[Guest MrRant]

NEW YORK (Variety) -- Commercials wizard Zack Snyder will direct the remake of George Romero's horror classic "Dawn of the Dead," digging up a June start date for the zombie redo.

 

James Gunn ("Scooby-Doo") has scripted a reinvention of a 1979 film that cost $640,000 and became a highly profitable cult favorite. The picture, Romero's sequel to the groundbreaking "Night of the Living Dead," revolved around a swarm of slow-moving cannibalistic corpses who snack on the inhabitants of a shopping mall.

 

It featured a healthy helping of humor along with the gore, down to the notion that, even after death and partial decomposition, consumer instincts would be strong enough to propel a reanimated corpse right to the mall. The update aims to place a greater emphasis on action and a young cast.

 

"The story benefits from a larger canvas, and the fact that malls have changed so much," said rights controller Richard P. Rubinstein, who produced the original, "There are all kinds of things we can use, down to the food courts. George did a lot with a pedestrian mall in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, where the only real highlight was a hockey rink."

 

Though "Dawn of the Dead" will mark his feature debut, Snyder has a long reel of European commercials featuring stars such as Catherine Zeta-Jones, Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford and Sean Connery. He was once set to direct "S.W.A.T.," only to depart because he wanted to make an R-rated film.

 

"Dawn of the Dead" will be distributed in the United States and most of the world by Universal Pictures, where the film's producer, Strike Entertainment, is based.

[Guest Ravenbomb]

*smacks everybody* It didn't work for NOTLD, it won't work for DOTD, you brainless fucks!

[Guest C.H.U.D.]

I actually liked the remake of NOTLD more than the original. I still think remaking Dawn of the Dead is silly though. There is no way they could get the same 80's feel, or the gore.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

Here's a film that really doesn't need to be remade. It's exactly the kind of movie that won't benefit from shiny updated visuals. It's gritty, it's cheap, and it's 70'salicious. Perfect as it stands.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

Fuck that! Dawn is one of my all time favorites. If they remake it I won't have any part of it.

 

And how come Dawn of the Dead isn't on DVD?

[Guest Lethargic]

NOTLD remake was awesome. So far, the script for this Dawn movie is supposed to be really good too. People that have read that before were saying WHY?? started saying, hey this ain't a bad idea after all. It's actually more of a re-imagining than a remake. I know, I hate that word too. But it's more of a remake of the title and the mall conceptthan anything else. They're not trying to re-do the original movie. This is like O'Bannon's Return of the Living Dead. More of a tribute to the other movies rather then trying to be one of them. It's not set in Phittsburgh this time, it's in a small town in Washington state. There are 25 people that end up in the mall, not 4. It has nothing to do with those other movies or universe. In script it's said to be the best violent zombie movie in a long time. The only problem being the title. On one hand, it's a smart move. Naming it Dawn of the Dead tells us immediately what it is and has us talking about it. Nobody would've started a thread about yet another zombie movie. But on the other hand, naming it Dawn of the Dead causes people to think it IS a direct remake and it is connected to those movies, so they're gonna come in expecting that and they're not going to get it. I dunno, I'm just gonna watch it with an open mind. Hope for the best, fear for the worst. And like Stephen King says when people ask why he lets Hollywood "ruin" his books. "Nobody has ruined my books. They're still sitting there on the shelf." If this one sucks, we can still watch the original.

[Guest Ravenbomb]

this is a bad move with Dead Reckoning apparently in the works. Any news on that?

[Guest Youth N Asia]

Years from now when I think of Dawn of the Dead I want to think of the kick ass late 70s movie in the mall. Not a big budget modern version of it.

 

And I really didn't like the NOTLD remake.

[JasonX 0]

Fuck that! Dawn is one of my all time favorites. If they remake it I won't have any part of it.

 

And how come Dawn of the Dead isn't on DVD?

Two of the three different versions of DOTD is on DVD, the only problem is that both are out of print.

 

The good news is that Anchor Bay is set to release a MASSIVE multi-disc set off all three cuts of the film. The bad news is that it won't be out until 2004 do to Anchor Bay wanting to get Day of the Dead out on DVD first do to the fact that DOTD has never been given a US release...

[Guest red_file]

And like Stephen King says when people ask why he lets Hollywood "ruin" his books. "Nobody has ruined my books. They're still sitting there on the shelf." If this one sucks, we can still watch the original.

I agree completely, and it's why I am always puzzled over people getting so angered at things getting remade. It's not like they're diminishing the original in any way, and a good movie might be produced.

[Guest NoCalMike]

Well yes the originals are still there, but it sucks that the "new generation" of horror fans will probably have to sit through this remake starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr and some other teen queen and instead of a bunch of lifeless killer zombies it will be one indestructable zombie that is mad because they don't have enough brains in their head to satisfy their hunger. I am not sure how to feel really about a "remake" I mean George Romero with millions to make a movie is a good thing, but someone else doing it makes me think that it won't capture the same ANYTHING.

[Guest El Satanico]

argh...god damn it

 

First TCM and now THIS? motherfuckers

 

 

I had no problem with the NOTLD remake since it was handled by people who worked on the original. This DOTD is hollywood guys unrelated to the original remaking it and that pisses me off. Yes I know the original producer is somewhat involved, but all he cares about is making money off it.

 

The whole promise of "bigger, better and badder with more action and a young cast" sickens me.

 

TCM and DOTD with clean and crisp video, young casts with known actors and promises of "bigger and better action" is just wrong and should never happen.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

G H E Y

[Guest NoCalMike]

Another problem is. The MPAA is so biased against horror films. If the DOTD remake has 50% of the gore that Saving Private Ryan has, it will get thrown an NC-17 rating. So I wonder how toned downed it will be. Also, this will be HOLLYWOOD's vision of a zombie movie not GEORGE ROMERO'S. This is just a bad, baaaaad idea.

[Guest Annoyed Grunt]

The bad news is that it won't be out until 2004 do to Anchor Bay wanting to get Day of the Dead out on DVD first do to the fact that DOTD has never been given a US release...

Uh, Anchor Bay already has a DVD version of Day out there.

[Guest NoCalMike]

I thought the 3-disc Dawn of the Dead was set for springtime 2003.....that is what what all over the dvd-newswires last year.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

I just dread the idea of seeing something like "Dawn of the Dead...with Josh Hartnet" (sp)

 

I'd just rather they left certain classics alone, I'm still getting over Psycho. I like Vince Vaughn's work, but it just didn't work for me.

[Guest Lethargic]

Well yes the originals are still there, but it sucks that the "new generation" of horror fans will probably have to sit through this remake starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr and some other teen queen and instead of a bunch of lifeless killer zombies it will be one indestructable zombie that is mad because they don't have enough brains in their head to satisfy their hunger. I am not sure how to feel really about a "remake" I mean George Romero with millions to make a movie is a good thing, but someone else doing it makes me think that it won't capture the same ANYTHING.

Actually the plot for the remake is a lot bigger than the original movie. It's focusing more on a whole community tring to fight off millions of zombies, not just one.

 

Has Romero ever made anything with millions of dollars? I never knew he ever had more than foodstamps and envelopes as a budget. haha

 

Dawn of the Dead is on DVD. I see it all the time in stores. The SE isn't out yet but the normal version is out there.

[Guest red_file]

Another problem is. The MPAA is so biased against horror films. If the DOTD remake has 50% of the gore that Saving Private Ryan has, it will get thrown an NC-17 rating.

I'm not so sure it's against horror movies as it is against small studios. Horror in the splatterpunk tradition is almost always made by studios who are unable to exert pressure against the MPAA and thus are forced to make edits; large studios usually have no interest in making horror with excessive gore, so their movies kinda slide through.

[Guest Lethargic]

I'm sure they'll do the same thing as everybody else. Put R cut into theaters and put unrated NC-17 type cut on the DVD.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

I'm sure they'll do the same thing as everybody else. Put R cut into theaters and put unrated NC-17 type cut on the DVD.

They'll probably just tone it down to an R for the big screen, then release an unrated cut which has little to no difference for video and dvd. I hate when they pull this "Unrated" crap when there's just about no difference.

[Guest El Satanico]

Since it's Hollywood it'll likely be made as an r-rated movie and that's it. However since "we want a young cast" usually means "we want teenagers in the audience" I fear that they may try to make it pg-13.

[Guest Ravenbomb]

we're missing the big picture here. What Rap/'R&B' star will be beating up dozens of zombies with his bare hands or be the Surviving Female Character?

[Guest El Satanico]

DMX...and Jet Li will co-star

 

...4 wheeler chases with zombies...oooh boy

[Guest Ravenbomb]

yea, and Jet-Li jumps in the air and stays there long enough to kick 12 zombi's heads off.

[Guest MrRant]

I despise DMX.