This year saw Hollywood studios release four direct remakes of past movies (The Jungle Book, Ben Hur, Ghostbusters, The Magnificent Seven) with four more recently rebooted franchises seeing new installments (Alice Through The Looking Glass, The Legend of Tarzan, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Star Trek Beyond). While Disney's live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book has been welcomed by critical acclaim furthering Disney's recent dominance of the movie industry, Sony Pictures Ghostbusters: Answer The Call ignited a flame war of needless controversy and failed to rejuvenate the property as Sony had hoped.
Next year Hollywood studios will continue to release further installments of recently rebooted movie properties while adding to growing list of inevitable reboots and remakes. Such new installments include semi-remake and Legendary Pictures monster universe installment Kong: Skull Island, 20th Century Fox's War for the Planet of the Apes (the third in the reboot series), and Sony and Marvel Studios Spider-Man: Homecoming which will integrate the character deeper into the MCU. Next year will see a greater number of all new reboots and remakes brought back to the big screen, In addition to Disney's Beauty and the Beast live-action remake and Dwayne Johnson's Baywatch and Jumanji, Scifiders may be interested in the following rehashes...
Power Rangers
Serving as a reboot of the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers property for modern audiences creator Haim Saban will produce the movie directed by South African director Dean Israelite in which five teenagers (Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Becky G, and Ludi Lin) come together and become the iconic super sentai heroes. Bryan Cranston also stars as the Rangers mentor Zordon with Elizabeth Banks starring as antagonist Rita Repulsa. Power Rangers will be unleashed in theaters Match 24th, 2017.
Ghost in the Shell
Scarlett Johannson continues to dominate the science fiction genre as together with director Rupert Sanders she brings the iconic Japanese manga animation series to life in the long-awaited live-action remake. Despite social justice controversy at Johansson's casting in the lead role, the premier trailer shows great promise with Johannson's rendition of the role as "The Major" being very reminiscent of the original. Hopefully, the movie's narrative, action, and pacing also remain true to the original manga animation first released in 1989. Ghost in the Shell will be released worldwide March 31st, 2017.
The Mummy
Originally released in 1932 as a series of horror movies with legendary actor Baris Karloff in the title role, the property of the Mummy was reimagined as an action series in 1999 with South African-born actor Arnold Vosloo reprising the role of the cursed Egyptian priest Imhotep, opposite Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, and Oded Fehr. Despite great desire from fans to see a return to the properties horror roots with Clive Barker at the helm Universal Pictures have instead optioned to reimagine the recent, and popular action interpretation of the property directed by Alex Kurtzman and written by Jon Spaihts. Tom Cruise will star as the movies hero with Sofia Boutella (pictured above) to star as the movie's antagonist. The Mummy will act as the first installment in the Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe, after 2014's Dracula Untold was met with polarizing criticism, and will open in theaters June 9th, 2017.
IT
The original two-part mini-series based on the bestselling novel by Stephen King which was released in 1990 is a treasured favorite among most horror fans, most notably for Tim Curry's legendary performance as the movie's antagonist Pennywise the Clown. Next year's remake, directed by Andrés Muschietti will see Bill Skarsgard take on the role (pictured above) against the younger iteration of Losers Gang. Unlike the 1990 miniseries and novel the new movie will not feature the adult perspective of the Losers Gang and their rematch with the monstrous IT. Studio New Line Cinema are instead planning to feature that perspective in a planned sequel. Here's hoping the recent accounts of violent clown sightings doesn't harm the movies reputation when it is unleashed in theaters September 8th, 2017.
Friday the 13th
One would have believed that after the success of Freddy versus Jason that with renewed interest in both properties a barrage of sequels would have ensued, instead fans were subjected to a subpar reboot of each of the properties, both of which failed to emulate the success of the aforementioned crossover. Despite rumors that a script has not even been finalized or a cast even selected Paramount Pictures are adamant to release, yet another attempt at rebooting the property with plans to release the movie into theaters October 13th (a Friday, unsurprisingly), 2017.
The Six Billion Dollar Man
Damian Szifron will direct Mark Wahlberg in the role of Colonel Steve Austin, made famous by legendary actor Lee Majors in the 1970's Tv serial. After suffering crippling injuries in a near fatal accident Colonel Austin receives extensive bionic implants that grant him new abilities such as superhuman strength and speed and is enrolled into the employ of a top secret government office known as OSI. Although it seems Wahlberg's implants will be much more costly than Majors six million dollar ones. Relative unknown Argentine director Szifron replaces America director and Ethan Hawke lookalike Peter Berg, best known for directing movies such as Hancock, Battleship, Deepwater Horizon and Predestination. The Six Billion Dollar Man is scheduled for release December 22nd, 2017.
