On a sunny summer day in 1951 the world changed forever. Very near the White House and America’s National Capital Building a strange circular saucer-shaped craft landed on the famous Washington DC mall. Suddenly, a ramp extended from the strange vehicle from another world and out stepped a large mechanical man. The population of the city was in near panic and the craft was quickly surrounded by military troops, tanks and other defensive equipment.
Shortly after the robot like thing scanned the surrounding area another creature began to slowly makes its way down the ramp. It was not as large or tall as the creature that preceded it. It took up a position beside the robotic creature, gazed out at the hundreds of men and weapons surrounding it; then slowly, very deliberately it removed its helmet and behold!….it was the famous British actor Michael Rennie.
That is how one of the greatest scifi films of all time opened to a spellbound crowd of moviegoers 56 years ago. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” changed the way scifi films would be viewed, and because of its high quality, films like “Forbidden Planet” and “War of the Worlds” would soon follow and inspire future filmmakers like George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorcese.
There are some in Hollywood, and I’m speaking of 20th Century Fox in particular, who feel it is time to take another look at this venerable classic and do a 21st Century remake of it. Before they do I hope they take a long and hard look at what they will be attempting to duplicate. While I normally don’t have a problem with doing remakes of older films, there are some products that simply should be left alone, preserved for posterity and be allowed to stand on their own merits. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” is one of those classic film products that fits that category.
We should have learned that lesson just recently with the great Steven Spielberg’s attempt to remake George Pal’s classic film “War of the Worlds.” Steven’s film was alright, but even someone as great as he is at creating legendary films could not top that original 1953 classic, and it will quite possibly and most probably, occur here again in this particular case.
When something is already perfect it is impossible to improve upon it, so I hope 20th Century Fox will keep that in mind.
I agree that some movies should not be “re-imagined”. Unfortunately, movie makers only care about one question: will it make money? If the answer is yes, then we will see a remake. Would I go to see it? Probably. Would I think it as good or better than the original? Probably not. Although I didn’t hate the remake of “War of the Worlds”, it was nowhere near as memorable as the original, and I fully believe the same would be true here.
What they should be thinking is “will it make more money if it’s done well?”
In this case, I hope they leave it alone. There are plenty of classic novels out there that haven’t been made into movies yet… start there first, before messing with film classics.
I agree, Summer. (And I did enjoy the KAMN examination of same)
Further, ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ is very much of its time. Without the prevailing McCarthy-era paranoia I can’t see how a remake would be as effective.
And Sam, I didn’t think Pal’s War of the Worlds was that much chop . . . I’m still waiting for a decent period version, set in late 19th-century London.
My only concern is that they would probably remake the movie more as a action film than that f a movie with a message.
I’m (for once) not as skeptical about this one as everyone else it. If they have the right kind of writers, it could be even better because they could all the things that the filmmakers wanted to in the 1951 but the censors were all over their asses. Granted, we still have jerks censoring things now, but at least the makers of the re-make wouldn’t basically have to have their film approved by the Vatican to get it made.
Well if this film is done as an independ it could probably work out as a Ok remake but as for getting the right writer, well I think that the right writers tend to get taken off projects for hack writers that can be controled by studio execs more often than not.
I’d pay to just see the Day Th Earth Stood Still just remastered and put on a big screen. No need to remake it, just SHOW it.