I’ve said it before that I’m always on the fence on remakes. Some I can get behind. Some I can’t. The very notion that Paramount even thought to remake ‘Explorers’ is a thought I can’t get behind and the real kicker is they are going to go through with it. Not only that, but they are remaking this 1980s science fiction classic through their low budget label, Insurge. The film is currently set to be produced by Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec who were co-producers on ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’. Writing credits for the remake are going to Geoff Moore and Dave Posamentier who just finished off co-writing ‘Better Living Through Chemistry’.
The original film involved three teenagers who came together and built a homemade spaceship which they were able to launch into space. The three teens? They were played by Ethan Hawke (‘Gattaca’, ‘Sinister‘) and River Phoenix (‘The Mosquito Coast’, ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’). It also starred Jason Presson (‘Gremlins 2: The New Batch’, ‘Trials of Life’) who didn’t go on to be quite as successful. The film was directed by Joe Dante (‘Gremlins’, ‘The Howling’) and is pretty much an 80s classic done in the style of Amblin Entertainment, which shouldn’t be too surprising as Dante worked with Spielberg on both ‘Gremlins’ and ‘Innerspace’.
Needless to say, I suspect this film will not be launching the careers of other actors. If anything the roles of the teenage boys will go to some twenty to thirty year olds who can just barely pass as teenagers. Not that Hollywood has ever done that before.
What do you think about ‘Explorers’ being remade? Is this as horrible of an idea as I’m envisioning or do I need to get over my nostolgia?
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
