“Shall we play a game?” These memorable words were the start of what would become one of the greatest movies ever made about hacking in the 1980’s. And now, MGM is one step closer to bringing it back to the big screen.
In an exclusive with Deadline, MGM has hired former NBC ‘Today Show’ producer Noah Oppenheim to pen the screenplay for the remake of their 1983 hit ‘War Games.’ Although Oppenheim is more known for his producer credits, he has written several screenplays that are currently in development.
Oppenheim will be joining director Seth Gordon (‘Horrible Bosses’) who was hired in June to help bring this project to fruition. Gordon has said his plan for the movie would be a huge project. Remaking ‘War Games’ appealed to him as “cyber-attack is a lot more real… I have a real point of view on the material and how things have changed…It’s a much more complicated, nuanced, political world we’re in and I think that actually makes for a more interesting plot to tell.”
The original ‘War Games’ starred Matthew Broderick as a teenage hacker who comes across a computer that he thinks is affiliated to a gaming company. Unbeknownst to him, it is actually a supercomputer programmed to predict the possible outcomes of a nuclear war and is linked to the military. He is able to hack into it and begins to play “Global Thermonuclear War.” Broderick’s moves in this “game” convince NORAD that an impending nuclear strike is occurring thus starting the beginnings of WWIII. Ally Sheedy also stars in this movie as the teenage girl Broderick likes.
It’s been 28 years since the original film was released and a lot has changed technologically and geopolitically. The plot of ‘War Games’ is not so farfetched now especially with the sophisticated gaming technology of today and the rise in hacking proficiency. It will be interesting to see if online multi-player gaming will be included in this film.
So far, there is no release date for this remake as it is still in development but you can watch the official trailer of the original ‘War Games’ below.
