Another day, another remake. Today, the honor goes to David Cronenberg as his gory and terrifying film "Videodrome" is being eyed for a remake. According to Variety, Ehren Kruger ("The Ring") is set to write and co-produce a new "Videodrome" for Universal Studios.
The original 1983 film is a cult classic, and starred James Woods as a sleazy television president who is always on the lookout for shocking programming to boost the ratings of his Toronto station. Through some creepy and sinister maneuvering, he begins broadcasting "Videodrome," a program of mindless murder and torture. Of course, even that isn't as it seems, and Cronenberg spins a rather gory tale of bodily horror, self-mutilation, and mind control.
Even if you haven't seen it, you've probably heard it, as it's one of the most sampled films in heavy metal, techno, and industrial music.
The plan is to modernize the concept, add ideas of nano-technology, and a bigger budget to create a "large-scale sci-fi action thriller." Not surprisingly, Cronenberg has no role in the remake and probably won't. While he's gotten a little more commercial over the past few years, big budget sci-fi thrillers don't have much in common with his famous style of kinky, body horror.
While fans of the original hope it won't happen, Kruger and Universal are clearly eager to see it through. Kruger and his production partner, Daniel Bobker are so keen to helm a big-budget remake that they chased down the rights, which don't belong to Cronenberg, but to Canadian distribution vet Rene Malo. Universal distributed the original "Videodrome" and had first refusal rights, but decided to grab the opportunity of rebroadcasting the signal ... which is a pretty scary thought considering the way Cronenberg tried to end it!
Readers, do you want to see "Videodrome" remade? Are you sick of sci-fi/horror remakes? Or is this a film just begging to be updated on a big budget?
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