ithildin | Highlander, the Resource?

For as much cash as possible, it would seem:

Summit Entertainment is bringing back to the big screen the 1986 sci-fi cult hit Highlander, with Iron Man co-writers Art Marcum and Matt Holloway on board to pen the redo, says The Hollywood Reporter.

The Russell Mulcahy-directed original starred Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery and Clancy Brown as immortal beings. Lambert played Scottish swordsman Connor MacLeod, Connery an Egyptian and Clancy a barbarian known as the Kurgan. The movie spawned four sequels and three television series.

Summit acquired the rights to remake the cult classic from Davis/Panzer Productions. Peter Davis, one of the original producers of the 1986 film, will also produce the new version of the film.

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It could be good.

Seriously? That must be the weirdest bit of Highander news I've heard in a long while!

Oh, good grief. Well, so long as they stick to Connor...
The fanboys should be happy.

O.o

...that's really all I can think of to say about this.

Huh? They are planning to remake the only good HL movie - why????

Well, I always thought that the only way to keep the franchise going was to recast it occasionally the way they recast James Bond. Some new writers and a new take on the story couldn't hurt either.

Maybe so they can make decent sequels? [shrug]

I, um. This is kind of worrisome, really.

Why not just re-do that last sequel IN A NON-SUCKING MANNER?

Remakes of ANYTHING anymore: do not want.

Agree with you there. And considering how awesome Iron Man is, it would seem to be in good hands. I guess we'll see what they do with it.

Ur doing it wrong? [g]

It's certainly hard to believe it could be worse than the drek the Source was!

Struck me that way initially too.

I guess I'll just cross my fingers and hope for the best - although, seriously, who could pull off Ramirez as well as Connery? (Um, actually, my mind just flashed to Robert Downey Jnr there... I could go with that!)

How about Peter?! [g] Now wouldn't that be funny! But, yeah, RDJ would be interesting.

only if they remake it with the original actors.... LOL!

Um, no thanks?

I'd settle for a remake of The Source that didn't make me want to gouge my eyes out. ;)

How about Peter?! [g] Now wouldn't that be funny!
*Dies* Oh Gods, I can already see the fanfic in my mind - fandom would explode, like a great big explody thing!

like a great big explody thing!

[snorfle]

WHAT? No! What?

(Yeah, that's all I got.)

Um, WTF? Okay, here we go again...

Oh the Bunnies! The Bunnies! What if ...

There can be only One - what happens when Immortals choose to ignore that Rule? A small group led by Duncan MacLeod choose to do so, and find out the consequences.

Years later, the Game is unresolved, and a new generation of Immortals is appearing. A man by the name of Aidan* MacLeod (played by Brendan Fraser**, perhaps) makes his way from the Scottish Highlands to NYC in search of answers. There he finds a teacher, one of the last of the Old Immortals, someone who's seen it all before - a man called Methos.

*I think Aidan is an Irish name rather than Scottish, but that's the name that came to mind.
**Brendan's yummy, and mentioning Chris Lambert has me thinkin' Blue Eyes.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

Why? Dear God, why?

LOL - hubby and i speculated that a remake of Highlander couldn't be far off. Seriously they are remaking everything. We figured there was money to be made rebooting a lucrative franchise. (see Star Trek).

So color me not surprised

Okay, I'm not sure what to think about that. *Takes a wait and see stance*

If they do it well, it might be cool. If they do it sucky, we shall reign fire down upon them. ;)

What she said.

DO NOT WANT.

Squeeeeeeeeze that stone baby! There's still some blood left somewhere! I thought it was all gone when "Methos collection" was formulated, but I was wrong.

Seriously, if the remake's target audience is 14-18 yo male, then count me out.

Wonder how many children 'Conner' will have?

It's probably time for me to actually see the original movie. Goes off to see how much it costs...

I can't believe they would do such a dumb thing. Has Peter Davis nothing else to do with his time? Has he no other projects? The only way the original could be better than it was, is if they got rid of all the modern bits, and made the movie with just the flashback story and added more. Does that make sense?

Also, which 3 tv series did it spawn? There's HL:ts and the Raven. What am I forgetting? Are they talking about the cartoon series?

So, I just read the whole story on the Hollywood Reporter. This doesn't sound so bad:
Davis said the new "Highlander" will not just be a remake but will incorporate more backstory elements and prequel aspects that will be fleshed out to expand the story line in a way that is inventive yet faithful to the original story.

Puts a whole different slant on it for me.

Do not want a straight remake, the original movie is too much of a classic for that. However a remake using the *idea* of the first movie might not be so bad. I will however regard it as AU if it totally contradicts everything I hold close to my little Highlander loving heart, just like I do with the Source (and the triple A arc in the series).

IF...and that's one big F--King IF...

If it is well written and cast, it has the potential to breathe new life and generate new fans....but, it they F--K this up, I believe the franchise will finally die and it will alienate what diehard fans are still around.

I am seriously hoping for Awesomeness!!!

*shakes head* can't they just let it GO? The first Highlander was so good, then it was just downhill from there. The second one probably was the worst until the catastrophy known as Highlander the Source. I wonder now what Adrian Paul and Peter Wingfield think of that, they were so excited for it before and at one point didn't Adrian say it would be the best Highlander yet....yeah....right. They need to just let it go. The more they mess with it the worse it gets.

>"Maybe so they can make decent sequels?"

This made me laugh. It is of course the answer! A big-screen re-release of the respected original would be perfectly nice and make some money -- but it can't make scads of money in an unending franchise, as perhaps a remake designed for sequels can.

Oh, I hope they don't screw it up.

Thanks for posting about it. I would not yet have this news if I had not read it on your LJ.