The Haunting, The Terror Within and BattleQueen 2020 are getting regular and “immersive” format remakes – and at least two of them were produced by Roger Corman… The remake rights to three ‘Roger Corman’ flicks (pinch of salt to come) have been picked up by a Toronto-based distribution company, according to Variety. The Haunting (1990), ... Trio of Roger Corman ‘classics’ getting ‘immersive’ remakes
The Haunting, The Terror Within and BattleQueen 2020 are getting regular and “immersive” format remakes – and at least two of them were produced by Roger Corman…
The remake rights to three ‘Roger Corman’ flicks (pinch of salt to come) have been picked up by a Toronto-based distribution company, according to Variety.
The Haunting (1990), The Terror Within (1989) and BattleQueen 2020 (2001) have been optioned out from the Roger and Julie Corman library to Clever Creature, whose sister company, Fast Motion Films, probably wants to make some new films or something, we’d imagine.
As it turns out, “or something” could be doing a bit of heavy lifting here – apparently the plan is to chuck out the new projects as both traditional 2D cinema releases and “immersive formats”, whatever those are.
On his plans and schemes, Clever Creature’s Michaelangelo Masangkay, said the company is “not just remaking them – we’re reimagining them for an era where audiences crave both the communal experience of the theatre and the deeply personal immersion of new media platforms.”
Nope, no idea, I’m afraid. Will BattleQueen 2020 (now a historical drama, we’d presume) be strapped up to a sprinkler system like the Shrek thing on London’s Southbank? Will The Haunting, itself essentially a re-edit of Corman’s own 1962 film (The Terror) because he forgot to stick a copyright notice on the original, be re-arranged into another exciting new order? Maybe they’ll play every scene on a different screen at the same time like the computers in The Dark Knight.
Read more: One Battle After Another review | PTA fights the powers that be
Anyway, according to a bit of the Variety article absolutely not copy-pasted from the press release, the remakes will “prioritize contemporary storytelling, elevated production values and fresh creative voices while maintaining the raw energy of the originals. The immersive versions are being designed to transport audiences into gothic horror, post-apocalyptic survival and futuristic rebellion settings.” None of which sound like places we’d really like to be immersed in, but each to their own.
Incidentally, despite sounding exactly like a Roger Corman film, Film Stories has been unable to establish whether BattleQueen 2020 (Battle Queen 2020 in the US) was a Corman production at all, as none of his regular production houses seem to have been involved. We’re sure someone at Clever Creature checked that before they sent out the press release though…
