Why not? Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, the minds behind the hit comedy site Ask a Ninja, are set to make their feature film debut with a remake of the lucrative 1978 B-movie spoof Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. They are currently working on the script. Nichols will direct. Both appear to be very fond of the cult classic and arguable pop culture phenomenon.
” ‘Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!’ is the masterwork of a generation,” Nichols said. “We can only aspire to recapture that magic.”
I can’t tell if this sentence is supposed to be funny, but The Hollywood Reporter sez that the remake’s plot is “expected to revolve around killer tomatoes.” I mean, really? ATOFKT spawned a sequel, Return of the Killer Tomatoes, which remains infamous for starring George Clooney (Possible cameo? Let’s hope.), a Nintendo game, a Game Boy game, a ’90s animated TV show that went great with SpaghettiOs, and tons of other tie-ins of questionable taste.
For what it is, Ask a Ninja is rather smart (Sarine and Nichols reportedly make $100K a month off the site and merch) and I’m curious to see how far these guys take their comedic voice. The deal is great news for original content generators on the Web and no doubt a promising glimmer in the eye of Slashfilm: The Movie. Seeing the remake’s absurd title stretched across a marquee next to, let’s say, The Mummy 5 should draw a smile from some and a frown from annoyed adults forced to hear that friggin’ theme song once again. Click here for a clip from the original film.
Discuss: Would you rather see a Tomatoes remake or Attack of the Killer ;)s?
March 11th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Emoticons
March 11th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
>:E
March 11th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
running a website is quite different than making a feature length film. but i love aotkt, and if these guys have film experience i hope they can pull it of.
March 11th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
There’s actually 4 ‘Killer Tomatoes’ films.They’ve been trying to make a 5th. flick for some time now,with no success. These guys could be the perfect ones to revamp this classic.I think that it’s a great idea!!Who couldn’t use more ‘killer tomatoes’ in their life??
March 11th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
@ Avery
Per the other sequels, see “other tie-ins of questionable taste.” ;)
March 11th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Finally!
March 11th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I’d take a “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” remake over any other.
Let’s get on that.
March 11th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
@ commie
What would Slashfilm: The Movie be about?
March 12th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
I have zero expectations. I have never laughed at a single thing off the Ask A Ninja site. I just don’t get the phenomena behind it.
July 7th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
If these guys really appreciate the Killer Tomatoes, they should be working closely with the original creators to create the 5th movie in the series. The original team was running out of steam on the 3rd and 4th movies, that’s clear… but it seems totally pointless to remake the original, which is fine just as it is.
Let these guys do “Lonely Girl 15: The Movie” it seems closer to their skill set.