This has been quite the week for movie sequel/reboot news. The Independence Day sequel got a new screenwriter, Jurassic World‘s crazy plot details got cleared up, we learned there are people who actually want to reboot Cliffhanger for a fresh audience, and now get get word that Stargate is coming back.
The original team of Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich have been tapped to bring the series back to life with a brand new trilogy. From Variety:
Emmerich is set to direct, with Devlin to produce. The idea is to use the film to kick off a planned trilogy that reboots the 1994 pic.
“We couldn’t be more excited to once again partner with Roland and Dean, the world-class creators of the original ‘Stargate,’ to bring their reinvigorated vision of this wildly popular property to audiences of multiple generations,” MGM chairman-CEO Gary Barber said. “’Stargate’ is one of the biggest titles in MGM’s vast library, and we look forward to adding this great franchise to our slate.”
Now I’m not going to sit here and pretend that Stargate wasn’t a cool movie. The presence of Kurt Russell alone is enough to push it into positive territory and it turns out to be one of his better movies, especially from the 90s.
The idea that we need to reboot it and make it into a trilogy just bores me to tears. The original was a pretty sweet idea with Egyptian imagery, aliens and a mythology that led to a fairly popular television series. But it was original. I remember reading an article a few years back about the lack of new and original characters throughout popular culture.
We’re going into our fourth or fifth iteration of Batman in theaters, Star Wars is being revived, and Star Trek pulled off time travel to bring back old characters for another run. It’s a constant cycle of what worked before and it gets boring.
There are exceptions of course and we drive them into the ground. Also there is a big industry behind the things we know and enjoy. Nostalgia and known quantities can push a lot of green.
So it’s no surprise Stargate is returning, most likely for an entire series. I just think we can do a lot better.
Anyway, here’s an exclusive look at the reboot. I think I smell another hit!
(Via Variety / Deadline)