James Cameron to Remake Forbidden Planet?

In October, we told you that Babylon 5 creator an Changeling scribe J. Michael Straczynski was hired by Warner Bros to pen a remake of Forbidden Planet. Now IESB claims that James Cameron is once again eyeing the project. He was at one time attached to it post-Titanic, but nothing came of it. If true, this is an odd move from Cameron who has said that he wanted to do a much smaller movie called The Dive after finishing his current three year production of Avatar. For now mark this as a “rumor”. Joel Silver is producing the latest try.

The original saw a group of Earth scientists who are sent some 17 light years away to investigate what happened to a colony of settlers on Altair-4. They find a man with a secret and his daughter who somehow survived a hideous monster attack on their planet. Gene Roddenberry has noted that Fred Wilcox’s original 1956 sci-fi film was one of the inspirations for Star Trek.

Loosely based on William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the movie was nominated for best special effects Oscar, and was noted for its groundbreaking use of an all-electronic score, and the first appearances of Robby the Robot and the C-57D starship (which was subsequently used in a number of productions, including the Twilight Zone’s “To Serve Man”). The movie’s poster was listed as the fifth best Movie Poster ever created by Premiere Magazine.

Discuss: Is James Cameron the right choice to remake Forbidden Planet?

  • Dr. Doc
    cant wait to see Avatar

    wasnt he supposed to adapt some really popular and critically acclaimed manga at some point?

    i remember reading about it in Wizard a loooooooong time ago, usually i despise manga but that actually looked pretty cool

    Battle Angel i think it was called
  • nelson
    yeah he has been attached to that for some time now i wonder whats up with that
  • I have an irrational dislike of James Cameron since he claimed to be "king of the world" at the Oscars. Now he can do no good in my book. As for the movie, this is the first classic flick in a long while that I've been okay with the idea of a remake.
  • Chance Gardiner
    He was joking. Jesus.
  • Dac
    Yes Yes a Thousand times yes.

    Having said that, will he ever make it? Probably not.
  • I thought the flop of The Day The Earth Stood Still would ring a bell for execs trying to reboot famous Science Fiction Classics. Doesn't seem that way. If anyone is to do it though, he is one of the people I would trust.
  • I think Cameron does a good job with the actiony sci fi movies, but I think someone along the lines of Ridley Scott might be better for the project.
  • Christopher M
    I guess but if it's true we won't see it in theaters until 2015..lol...as much as I like Cameron he's been taking way too much time to finish Avatar without giving fans even a glimpse....then complains when fake materials show up online...I'm all for James Cameron's version of Battle Angel....I'm not so sure about Forbidden Planet, I'd rather see David Cronenberg or Paul Verhoeven direct....
  • Ron Donkers
    legislation needs to be passed banning remakes. Ugh.
  • they need to ban BAD remakes.
  • People need to get over the assumption that remake automatically means bad. There are legitimate reasons why some remakes are necessary and as long as it's not a blatantly obvious Hollywood cash grab, I'm open minded about remakes.

    What I look for in remakes is entirely different than what most probably do. I'm not looking for a carbon copy of the original. I'm more interested in seeing how the story is adapted to fit our modern times while still keeping the overall spirit of the movie the same.
  • danno
    I'm bored of the Avatar hype juggernaut - at last some refreshing Cameron hype!
  • TheMarquis
    Finish Avatar. See if it's what he says it is. Then talk next project. Until then, I couldn't care less about Cameron's future.
  • At Cameron's rate we won't see this for 20 years.
  • Plageromo!
    I find it ironic that a story about a creature from the id may be made by someone who is a creature from the ego.
  • Mike Lowrey
    James Cameron is a director who is notoriously methodical in choosing projects that will surely challenge him in new and interesting ways. Why would he want to 1. make a movie based on a concept incredibly similar to "Aliens" -- he had mentioned "Forbidden Planet" as a major influence on that film. (The investigation of what happened to a colony of settlers on an alien planet/Newt somehow survived a hideous monster attack). 2. dedicate his time to creating a new planet, culture, physics, etc. ("Avatar" has taken an incredibly long time partially due to Cameron's meticulousness in creating the universe of "Avatar"). Why retread old challenges?
  • James Cameron's a pretty good director especially when it comes to sci-fi. He'll do a goo dob with this if it ever gets made.
  • James Cameron's a pretty good director especially when it comes to sci-fi. He'll do a good job with this if it ever gets made.
  • Berlin Calling
    Not another remake. Didn't they learn from The Day The Earth Stood Still? Yawn. And what's the last thing Cameron has actually FINISHED? I think Titanic drove him insane.
  • Has Hollywood run out of original ideas?
  • It's not that they have run out of them, it's that they discourage them. There are plenty of inventive people in Hollywood, but execs know that people fear change, so... familiarity. Yeah.
  • Then that makes it even worse that they won't give people who probably have amazing ideas a chance.
  • Latino Review is reporting that Forbidden Planet is a trilogy with the first film a prequel rather than a "remake"
  • it's interesting to see how many remakes and adaptations are happening. what the hell happened to all the creative writers to come up with something original. now they're even making a live action Cowboy Bebop movie with keanu reaves as spike!! come on hollywood!! what the hell is going on.

    muffin7, you say people fear change. maybe true in most cases. but right now, there's a very small percentage of movie goers who are happy about these remakes. MOST are complaining. if we are not "people", and if we are not the target audience for the studios, then who is??
  • The mass of people who attend movies.
    I as well would like to think that the general movie going public is like us smarter than this crap, but unfortunately that is not the case. Although, I do admire your optimism, I am less than optimistic. From what I have seen, the real money apparently comes from making shit that sounds familiar.
  • Your confusing stupidity with apathy. The general movie-going audience aren't the type to read movie blogs, research films online for hours, or pan through the minutia of every directorial choice of a film maker. If they are entertained with a movie, great. If not, they move on with their lives.
  • Its hard to make over generalizations about whether the majority of the movie-going audience is in favor of remakes or not. If you are going by the negative comments you encounter in film blogs, then you are really only seeing a VERY small percentage of audience reaction, the majority of people just aren't passionate about films to really care either way. Its something to do on a weekend.

    What it really comes down to, is that studio's see remakes as a solid property. They come with a built in fan base, an easy template to work off of, and a sense of security that no matter how awful it is, it will still make money, and at the end of the day, that is more or less the only reason Hollywood exists.
  • Weyland_Yutani
    If you really want to have your mind blown, wrap your head around the idea that Full-Screen DVDs are still on shelves and still making a lot of money. Nevermind the idea that most of the people buying them are probably watching them on widescreen monitors. (I recently was at a party where the guy was playing a fullscreen DVD of TDK in this manner. Incredible.)
    The point being - people are stupid and, even though a lot of smart people will deride remakes (some here on /film), they are still spending money on these films and still supporting them in some way because they let their curiosity prevail. Hollywood will only stop this backlog rape when these films fail miserably in every way. The answer is to stop supporting them.
  • Weyland_Yutani
    Why Cameron would go out of his way to do something original like Avitar and then remake something like Forbidden Planet is a mystery. If it's going to happen, the odds that it is a worthy endeavor are far better with Cameron's creativity, yet I feel a little ripped off knowing that he could be spending his time creating something truly new. If it is a complete retelling, packaged with fresh ideas of prequel and sequel variety, it DOES hint at some creative merit. I'll agree with that.

    Like everyone says, we'll find out in ten years.
  • tekjock
    STOP REMAKING THINGS AND GET AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT
    STOP REMAKING THINGS AND GET AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT
    STOP REMAKING THINGS AND GET AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT
    STOP REMAKING THINGS AND GET AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT
    STOP REMAKING THINGS AND GET AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT
    STOP REMAKING THINGS AND GET AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT
  • Yeah, great. I'm sure I'll be very excited to see that when it comes out in the year 2020.
  • LMFAO Exactly, right?!!
  • ulman
    From: "jmsatb5@aol.com" <jmsatb5@aol.com>
    Subject: Re: quick update from jms
    To: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
    Date: 3/4/2009 12:42:28 AM

    Meanwhile, on a wholly different note...not of triumph but of
    annoyance....because so much of the Forbidden Planet screenplay was
    leaked out, Warners and I have decided to chuck the screenplay in its
    entirety and start over. This is the direct result of the leaks that
    showed up on the nets, including detailed script reviews of a project
    that was barely a week old, and which would effectively destroy any
    anticipation of the movie because by the time it finally reached the
    screen in 2010 or thereabouts, the story would be old news. So we're
    starting fresh, and we're going to keep a tight lid on the script this
    time.

    So to the sites that say, "Where's the harm, it's not like they're
    gonna toss out the script because we blew the contents of same all
    over the nets," well, yes, that's exactly what it's like, and it's
    precisely your responsibility that a year's worth of work was
    destroyed.

    So we start anew, with the determined hope that the next draft will be
    even better, and far more secure, than the last one.

    jms
  • Patricia
    Oh please don't! Don't try to remake this wonderful film, you will fail because The Forbidden Planet 1956 film was done right the first time! Take note of this Mr Cameron! Forbidden Planet is my number one favorite movie of all time and I've watched it since I was four. I don't want to see it destroyed!
  • tompne
    ---With his films coming in at half a billion each Cameron is undoubtedly being massively funded by the direct heirs of the most awesomely genocidal regime in history---across the Pacific.

    Cameron -long rich and decades stale ---has NO excuses.
    I mean 70 million people 'missing' in 'peacetime' ---ain't just another hack
    sci-fi plot.

    If you're reading this --you also know and have no excuse for patronizing the recycled products of deawood sleaze like Cameron either.

    Truth hurts.

    AMEN
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