Hollywood out of ideas, remakes 'Total Recall'

POSTED BY: HAKEN
UPDATED: Sunday, August 9, 2026 15:24
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HAKEN

Tuesday, January 11, 2011 7:21 PM

Hollywood has finally run out of ideas (how many times have people said that before?) because after making sequels after sequels, rebooting old TV shows into movies, and turning comic books into movie franchises, they are now tapping into their recent movies to be remade.

Next on the list, Arnold Schwarzenegger's 'Total Recall.' It was announced today that Collin Farrell will lead the cast with Len Wiseman in the Director's chair.

Supposedly Wiseman will be more true to the Phillip K. Dick source material, but we'll see.

OPPYH

Tuesday, January 11, 2011 7:26 PM

Colin Farrel is now the king of remakes. In addition to the 2007 Miami Vice remake, and Fright Night(due later this year)..now this? Hollywood really has run out of ideas.

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70's TV FOREVER

STORYMARK

Tuesday, January 11, 2011 8:01 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by HAKEN:
Hollywood has finally run out of ideas (how many times have people said that before?) because after making sequels after sequels, rebooting old TV shows into movies, and turning comic books into movie franchises, they are now tapping into their recent movies to be remade.

Next on the list, Arnold Schwarzenegger's 'Total Recall.' It was announced today that Collin Farrell will lead the cast with Len Wiseman in the Director's chair.

Supposedly Wiseman will be more true to the Phillip K. Dick source material, but we'll see.

It has nothing to do with being out of ideas. Remakes happen because they're easier to market, and most importantly - because people talk so much about them in advance - which rarely happens for original ideas - and almost never this far in advance.

So, by complaining about it, you are actually reinforcing it.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

ZEEK

Tuesday, January 11, 2011 9:16 PM

Total Recall wasn't very interesting the first time around. Pass.

HAKEN

Tuesday, January 11, 2011 10:00 PM

Quote:
So, by complaining about it, you are actually reinforcing it.

Perhaps, but I do my fair share of talking about little known movies too.

I just felt that it was too soon to remake 'Total Recall.'

Besides, in addition to the 'Total Recall' movie, there was also a 'Total Recall' television series titled 'Total Recall 2070,' which had a brief run about 10 years ago.

'Total Recall 2070' was sort of a mash up of 'Total Recall' and 'Blade Runner' that had nothing to do with either movies, but supposedly is based on ideas from both worlds created by Phillip K. Dick. I felt it was an okay syndicated sci-fi series that rode on the popularity wave of the "near future" sci-fi concept at the time.

I don't believe Len Wiseman, a Director known more for design and style than substance, has the ability to take the difficult Phillip K. Dick source material beyond what has already been done.

And the screenwriter, Kurt Wimmer, although noted for 'Equilibrium,' hasn't done anything of merit in recent years within the sci-fi genre that would suggest that he could pull off a good 'Total Recall' script.

I dunno, this all just looks too much like double trouble to me, especially with the marketing guys in charge.

STORYMARK

Tuesday, January 11, 2011 10:09 PM

Yeah, I was aware of the TV show, but aside from the name, it had/has little to do with the concept behind the films, so I don't see it as relevant.

And since the first film made huge changes to Dick's story, and was released over 20 years ago, I hardly see a more accurate adaptation being "too soon". The fact that Mars isn't involved in this remake seems to indicate that it'll be a rather huge difference from Verhoven's film, as Mars was pretty much the focus.

I agree Wiseman doesn't have a great track record, and is the biggest potential problem, but I try not to judge projects sight-unseen.

As for Wimmer, I take it as a good sign that he writes more than sci-fi. Makes it more likely to be a film with ideas, and not just a pastiche of beats from other films/stories.

I see it as a opprotunity to take an interesting concept and explore it in more depth than the original film, which became more of a muscle-head excersize in over-the-top violence than the thought-provoking story the premise had potential for. Maybe they'll blow it, but again... I'm not going to judge on such surface information.

And face it, when it comes to movies - the marketing guys run everything. This is no different.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

SEGFAULT

Tuesday, January 11, 2011 10:37 PM

Anytime Hollywood makes another pass at a Dick story I get excited, because one of these days they're going to get it right.

LWAVES

Tuesday, January 11, 2011 11:46 PM

We all know that Hollywood ran out of ideas a long long while ago and that sequels, prequels, reboots, TV adaptions, remakes etc are an easy way for them to operate and hopefully (for them) make money.
Sticking with remakes there are some good ones out there. They may be few and far between but they are there. The Thing comes to mind. In more recent times Let Me In and True Grit stand out. If a remake aims to bring something else to the viewer (like staying closer to the original novel) and a decent enough amount of time has passed then I say go for it. If the finished product is bad then I just won't watch it.

As for Total Recall then I have to say that 20 years is plenty of time. It wasn't a great film to begin with, it was a great Arnie film but compared to similar movies it was average-ly okay IMO. If the new remake can stick closer to PKD's original ideas then good luck to them. I've heard of the director but can't say if he's any good or not without checking to see if I know his work. He may do the material justice, or not, hopefully he will.

And this is slightly off-topic, but related, and is something that has started to bug me a little bit recently.
If they go back to PKD's source material for this film is it really a 'remake'? I noticed it more recently with True Grit and Let Me In with people saying they were remaking them, especially when folks say they are remaking the John Wayne film. If the Coens went back to the novel (which they did) then how could it be a remake of the Wayne version. Surely it's a alternate version, or whatever you want to call it.
A lot of it is down to the terminology used by people (not having a dig at anyone as I'm as guilty as everyone else) but it has come to my attention. Of course it may just be the filmmakers trying to distance themselves from the other film and maybe add a little more credibility.

"The greatest invention ever is not the wheel. It's the second wheel." - Rich Hall

SHINYGOODGUY

Saturday, January 15, 2011 12:10 PM

Agreed, Storymark and Haken, marketing rules the day. Take a look at Tron:Legacy, a SFX-laden (and a bit over produced IMHO in that aspect), 3D venture that had no story and no redeeming value (save Jeff Bridges) who was absolutely wasted in this sequel. You would think that after 28 years they would have a better end product.

But its all marketing. "Make it in 3D and then we could sit back and count the money. The fools will flock to anything with the Tron name attached to it." And so, I did. I watched the trailer a dozen times, I read the stories about how Pixar was asked to try and fix the storyline (I'm not sure if they did accept the assignment, but from the looks of it - apparently not). I bought my ticket (my son along as well) and sat there like a lump. Disappointment comes directly to mind.

I have lots of issues with the new Tron film, not that the first one was Dr. Zhivago (or Star Wars for that matter), but it had something. It was quirky fun, something never before seen, the precursor to The Matrix, if you will. But the new Tron was sour, devoid of fun. It made the same mistake that Lucas made with the Star Wars Pre-logy. Episodes 1,2, & 3 took itself too seriously and didn't have FUN. That's what made the first Tron such a cult classic, of course the cool cheesy graphics helped, but FUN. The story in Tron: L was just plain lame (the acting, particularly by Hedlund didn't help). What makes matters worse is that they built the whole story around the father/son relationship but they forgot to tell Hedlund to emote that. Poor direction? Who knows!

Basically, Tron kicks Tron: L's ass out of the park big time, and this without the help of 3D. So what good is it to remake or rehash a movie/tv series if you don't bring a good story along with it? The remake of True Grit was good, solid movie making with emphasis on story.
It was different, John Wayne's perf notwithstanding, than the original. With varying degrees, both were well-made. The tone and pacing were somewhat different. Having said that I like The Duke's version slightly better (call me old fashioned).

Remakes: It's not that H-wood is running out of ideas, it's H-wood wants to make money - first and foremost. So the marketing dudes say "why not appeal to the aging baby boomers and their children by remaking X." It's sort of what Disney does every 7 years, they pull out the old standards to resell to those who watched when they were kids and show it to their kids. Anything new and untried is too uncertain for LaLa Land's accountants. Unless your name is attached to H-wood's royalty (Spielberg, Hanks, Lucas, etc.).

How do we stop it? Don't go. Of course if it's well done how could u not.

SGG

JAMERON4EVA

Friday, April 29, 2011 10:49 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
Yeah, I was aware of the TV show, but aside from the name, it had/has little to do with the concept behind the films, so I don't see it as relevant.

And since the first film made huge changes to Dick's story, and was released over 20 years ago, I hardly see a more accurate adaptation being "too soon". The fact that Mars isn't involved in this remake seems to indicate that it'll be a rather huge difference from Verhoven's film, as Mars was pretty much the focus.

I agree Wiseman doesn't have a great track record, and is the biggest potential problem, but I try not to judge projects sight-unseen.

As for Wimmer, I take it as a good sign that he writes more than sci-fi. Makes it more likely to be a film with ideas, and not just a pastiche of beats from other films/stories.

I see it as a opprotunity to take an interesting concept and explore it in more depth than the original film, which became more of a muscle-head excersize in over-the-top violence than the thought-provoking story the premise had potential for. Maybe they'll blow it, but again... I'm not going to judge on such surface information.

And face it, when it comes to movies - the marketing guys run everything. This is no different.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

Marketing guys DONT run everything, If you want proof, look at Star Wars.

"Mom, he has her chip. He has her."
John Connor,"Born To Run", TSCC EP 2x22

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