Fresh off his unofficial remake of “Halloween 2,” that opened with a respectable $16.5 million this past weekend, Rob Zombie has announced his next project will be a $30 million remake of the 1958 horror/science fiction film “The Blob,” a movie about a gelatinous mass from space that terrorizes people while growing every time it consumes someone. Steve McQueen starred in the original.
This is the second attempt at remaking “The Blob,” as there was a remake of the movie in 1988 that was directed by “The Mask” director Chuck Russell. That movie only made $8 million.
Zombie has already said he wants to reimagine the visual of The Blob itself, telling Variety, “That gigantic Jello-looking thing might have been scary to audiences in the 1950s, but people would laugh now.”
Zombie had long been critical of making remakes, at one point calling them “the worst thing a filmmaker can do,” but now admits that getting new properties sold in Hollywood is next to impossible, while producers look for more and more existing properties to mine as remakes.
He hadn’t even intended to do “Halloween 2,” but as time went on and the producers still didn’t have a script or director attached, he said he found himself getting protective of the characters and realized he could use the second movie to wrap everything up he had begun with the first.
The “Halloween” franchise will go on without Zombie, though, as Bob Weinstein has already announced that “Halloween 3-D” is in development for release in 2010. The 3-D gimmick seems especially effective for horror, as “The Final Destination” was the No. 1 movie the same weekend “Halloween 2” opened and that movie saw the 3-D screenings do three and a half times more business than the 2-D versions.
Horror movies have shown a far more significant sales increase in their 3-D versions than animated childrens’ movies have when offered in both formats.
This story was written by guest author John Popa.
I remember seeing the original as a kid on TV but I don’t remember being particularly scared by it even then. It should be interesting to see what they do with it what with all the special effects that they have available now. It just seems too easy to run away from a blob.
I just heard a radio interview with him about this last week. I guess he’s attracted to alternative visions of these franchises and it isn’t all about retreading.
I’m still a little hesitant on the 3d movement, but it is showing some signs of longevity. If it helps the horror genre then I hope it stays.
Money is louder than dignity, isn’t it Rob?