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Leonardo DiCaprio To Reboot WarGames?

Posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta

wargames

Production Weekly is reporting that Leonardo DiCaprio is looking to produce a reboot of the classic 1983 sci-fi hacker film WarGames. The original WarGames is a great geek flick, a flashback to the days when a 1200 baud modem was fast, and capable of destroying the world. Plus, this is a movie which features the first cinematic reference to a “firewall”. But could the story be updated to modern times without becoming the mess that was The Dead Code? I’m not quite sure.

Last year, MGM released a horrible direct-to-dvd sequel/spin-off/remake called WarGames: The Dead Code. The film was basically a modern remake, starring Matt Lanter as a computer geek named Will Farmer who engages a government super-computer named R.I.P.L.E.Y. and enters in a game of online terrorist-attack simulation which is part of a sophisticated piece of government spyware designed to find potential terrorists. Homeland Security, now believing Farmer is a terrorist, sets out to apprehend him. And the computer, of course, forgets that it’s just playing a game. The film was horrible, currently rated 4.4 by users on Internet Movie Database (you can watch the trailer if you dare in our previous posting).

DiCaprio has a lot of spinning plates on his table, including a big screen live-action adaptation of Akira, the story of Atari, an adaptation of Kurt Eichenwald’s Conspiracy of Fools, and we havent gotten past the letter C. It’s more than likely that this project won’t see the light of day outside of some development.

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  • As a re-boot the premise of this movie will make so sense to the people watching it today. In the 80's people were afraid of nuclear war, this is why this movie was good. What are they going to be afraid of now... terrorists... the economy??? Come on. Another movie I will not see. If the original one was in the theater again I would go see that one!
  • Bravo, Bros! keep going like this, more good info again.
  • why must they remake everything
  • Kaedis
    To go straight to the point, why? The moral of the original does not apply anymore. We no longer have two superpowers operating on a M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction) mind set with Nukes aimed at each other. The world is more complex now, the players smaller and less straight forward. Sure, you can change the plot as you remake the movie, but I have a better idea: MAKE SOMETHING NEW.

    I know that using actual creativity during an onslaught of remakes is a radical idea. But hey, it's so crazy it just might work.
  • Mark
    I was a nerd then (with a 300 baud modem - 1200 baud was fast). I'm an older nerd now. This was a great story. Back then. The world threats to the US are different, hacking occurs all the time, and computers aren't a novelty anymore. I don't think the Air Force even uses NORAD(Crystal Palace?) at Colorado anymore. This would be about as interesting as watching the news now which is to say not very.
  • "...a flashback to the days when a 1200 baud modem was fast, and capable of destroying the world."

    oh, technology!
  • is reboot is the new remake while re-imagining is still re-imagining.
  • I like Space Farmer's idea much better! Hey sign up that guy up to the screen writer's guild! Seriously, remaking this movie? No...would not be interested at all.
  • SomeGuy
    this "reboot" shit has got to stop. IT'S A REMAKE. A REMAKE.
  • exactly.
  • me too.
  • this is one remake I can see would work for 2009, because of advanced technology.

    I love the 1983 film, it's not a masterpiece, but a little cute 80s film.
  • I was just thinking the same thing...I actually wasn't mad to see this piece of 'remake' news...
  • Why reboot? I think my sequel idea is better.

    WarGames II: Joshua's Revenge

    It is 25 years later and David Lightman is the Director of Intelligent Computing for the civilian segment of NORAD. Dr. John McKittrick, who recruited David after the infamous incident in 1983, has been "dead" for 5 years. David is now in charge and is working on new theoretical systems far superior to the old familiar WOPR system.

    During David’s latest efforts to test the integration of some of the new systems with the old legacy systems, it was discovered that the root program for the WOPR (aka.: Joshua) was stored away and never actually terminated or deleted. In fact, Joshua has been playing his games in a contained cyberspace ever since... and learning at an exponential rate.

    When one of David's technicians inadvertently "releases" Joshua’s program, he emerges far more advanced and intelligent and now he is ready to replay and, this time win, his game of Global Thermonuclear War. Only this time he knows he can't just play the game, he has to make it real.

    Dr. Steven Falken, who is now 75 years old, is called in to help bring the world back from extinction. Falken quickly discovers that Joshua never really “thought” that "the only winning move was not to play." Instead, Falken learns that Joshua planned all along that his next move would be to lay low, re-strategize, study the enemy and plan a stealthy attack meant to shock and awe them into total submission or eventual destruction no matter what the initial scenario called for.

    Except, now Joshua has taken sides not against the Russians… but against all of humanity.
  • They need to leave classic films alone and be creative and do something different.
  • They need to leave classic films alone and be creative and do something different.
  • i'm not interested in this in the slightest. i do still love catching this movie on AMC once a week though.
  • damn.. stop remaking movies from the 80s. This one is up there with Jackie Chan and Will Smiths son in the Karate kid remake.
  • What is up with Leo? First I hear that he is trying to remake "Akira." Then, it was "Cowboy Bebop," and now "Wargames?" When will the madness end?!
  • gah
    It's clear his involvement in these things is very minimal. You can tell where his interests lie by the kind of projects he decides to act in. This is just him making some coin on the side.
  • it could work. but i would be quite skeptical. it could just tank if it was in the wrong hands. leo could make it work... but i'd rather see him develop something good and more original than these non-stop constant reboots.
  • darrin
    no no no, we dont need a reboot, we got eagle eye although it wasnt interesting after you find out its a computer. and we dont need another karate kid , cause we got never back down. that was actually good.
  • can't say i'm too interested. He hasn't really produced anything good since Aviator...makes you wonder why he's taking on so many projects all of a sudden.
  • Is Akira ever going to get made? Man that has been in development for a long time. I just can't imagine them not dumbing down Akira... Also I am kind of skeptical of this, its such an awesome movie and I think they should let it be.
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