February 16, 2005
Poseidon Adventure remake gets a Director
I can hardly believe this, but the daddy of all disaster movies is going to be remade. MovieWeb are reporting that The Poseidon Adventure is going through the dull, lifeless machine of Hollywood Remake Inc.
Production Weekly reports that Wolfgang Petersen is setting sail on a remake of the 1972 disaster film The Poseidon Adventure.Petersen, who's directed The Perfect Storm and Das Boot, will begin filming the shipwreck saga in early May and shoot through September in Los Angeles.
Mark Prtosevich adapted the script based on a Paul Gallico novel which tells the story of a capsized ship whose survivors try to make their way back up through the hull to the surface.
The new movie, which is being eyed as a big-budget tentpole, would be set in the present day and follow a new set of characters as they brave fires, explosions and flooding corridors in their attempt to survive after a tidaly wave flips the S.S. Poseidon.
Sweet lord...I can't believe it. We'll be seeing remakes of remakes...oh we have done. What about remakes of films in production?
Posted by Richard Brunton at February 16, 2005 08:33 AM
Comments
Posted by: Tom Whitaker at February 16, 2005 09:14 AM
I believe that this is scheduled for release next Summer. Read an article recently that stated that WB, after swiping Bryan Singer from FOX for Superman, are now opening the Poseidon Adventure against X3. Alter Ego Comics
Posted by: Marc at February 16, 2005 09:43 AM
Borgnine better be in the one too!
Posted by: Borgnine at February 16, 2005 12:01 PM
Sequels and remakes. Ugh. Even Disney is opening a CGI studio to churn out sequels to the Pixar films they own, which for Disney is pretty much regurgitating the original work over and over anyway.
Perhaps they can get Shelley Winters to play her old fat lady role again. I mean she's only 85 now.
There's a good way to go out. Playing the same role you played 33 years earlier in a remake of the original film.
Er... on second thought. That kinda sucks.
Posted by: Nala at February 16, 2005 02:17 PM
On The Late Show, an actor promoting some remake (I cannot recall which one) once said that plays are done over and over and over again, why not movies? I personally don't see a problem with *good* remakes, but -- unfortunaltey -- there usually are not all that many good remakes.
Posted by: David at February 16, 2005 02:26 PM
I have wondered something for a long time...how long will it be before there are no original movies. Hell, it might be now. The first successful talking movie aired in 1927 - almost 80 years ago. Most of the movies we see today are just variations on the same story or theme. How many truly new movies do we see each year. Not many. Even the big block buster of the last few years are just the same stories being told differently. Look at Terminator or The Matrix - these are both the same story about computers that gain intelligence and take over the planet. Doesn't this sound alot like Colossus:The Forbin Project that was released in 1970.
I just think we are suffering from a lack of imagination.
Posted by: Blue944 at February 16, 2005 03:48 PM
I remember reading that all stories can be broken down into one of the seven (that figure could well be wrong it's straight out of my head) original Greek tragedy plays. Since then everything is built from these stories.
Posted by: Richard at February 16, 2005 04:00 PM
Please guys, they've allready stolen from this movie how many times ? How many movies rip off the shelley winters underwater ballet, or the part where they climb up the air vent and roddy mcdowall falls. Deep blue sea and Alien resurrection come most immediately to mind, but there have been soooo many others. At least this time the original source can be acknowleged. I just hope peterson doesn't siphon all the campy dialgoue and cheesy glamour that made the original so good.(ROGO:"What are you wearing under there?" Mrs Rogo: "Just panties, what else do I need?") Not another humorless perfect storm, PLEASE Wolfgang, PLEASE.
Posted by: playitasitlays at March 1, 2005 05:31 AM
Well I can think of only one good reason to remake 'The Poseidon Adventure' and that is to finally do justice to Paul Gallico's terrific novel. Irwin Allen made a schlock parody of one of the most gripping adventure novels of the 20th Century. Fans of Allen's film should seek out the book and read it in order to gain an insight into how not to butcher a novel. I hope Wolfgang Petersen appreciates this and goes back to Gallico's novel with the proper respect.
Posted by: Fweddy at March 15, 2005 07:53 PM
I agree with you Fweddy, and I think Wolfgang will do a fine job with this remake... probably holding true and closer to the novel, but you know Hollywood and how much storylines are always slimmed down.
Nonetheless, has anyone heard if casting has taken place? If not yet cast, I am calling my agent to get me an audition! If completed, then does anyone know who will star and costar?
Posted by: Filmbuffer at April 2, 2005 05:06 AM
I'm arguing with my colleague about this now but I just DO NOT SEE everyone's problem with remakes of a bit of fluff like Poseidon. It was a money-spinning crowd-pleaser to start with and I hope that this one will be too.
Sure, there are classics out that that shouldn't be remade out of respect, but I don't comprehend the repeated assertion that these films don't NEED remaking. I suppose they don't - is the interpretation of this that by remaking a film someone is saying that the original is crap? - but then again, did The Day After Tomorrow NEED to be made? I'm not sure I see the difference.
Hollywood always wants to make a dead cert. A remake is simply a branding exercise, nothing more.