Monday, April 16, 2007

Burning Question: A franchise that should reinvent itself?

After seeing Casino Royale a few weeks ago, a movie which reinvented the Bond franchise with a harder, cleaner and more realistic line, it made me wonder if there were a few other movie series that could do with that same kind of reinvention. On the television end, Battlestar Galactica, seems to also be doing well in this kind of reenvisioning, so there another recent precedent for this kind of work.

Now I am not talking remakes(even though technically, Casino Royale was a remake itself), sequels that advance a world or story in a different direction.

Alien: Alien Vs. Predator doesn't count(because it makes absolutely no sense from a chronological standpoint). Ellen Ripley was a compelling character, but the threat from the Alien horde transcends her, and in the hands of a capable director and good screenwriter, I know there is more story worth telling in this universe without Ripley.

Gremlins: I admit, this one seems really really weird, but hear me out. It has been 17 years since the substandard and self-parodying Gremlins 2: The New Batch, and again, there are some story left to tell, and there is plot element that the original script of Gremlins had which Steven Spielberg had removed. Gizmo was supposed to become Stripe in that movie, but that was changed in a later draft of the script because he felt that such a change would have confused people. I think it would be a great final chapter for these movies. I think it is time for that vision(helmed again by Joe Dante), to make it to the screen.

So, are their any movie/television franchises you think need to reinvent themselves?

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