Remakes are a cottage industry in Hollywood, at least for the time being. With nostalgia waves washing over audiences in increasing frequency, the market becomes more and more flooded with modern revamps of films we swear we've seen before. Brace yourself for some deep cuts though, as legendary distributor Morgan Creek has some classics from the 80's and 90's going up for sale.
Deadline reported today that the long-time production partner to Warner Bros. is going to sell off the rights to 78 of their most precious nuggets of fandom. While the libraries of every film are up for grabs, the studio has retained the rights to remake certain properties in the mix. Among the titles staying put are the Jim Carrey classic Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, the 80's baseball comedy Major League, and even the legendary horror film The Exorcist. Other than that, the studio retains the TV rights and gets a portion of any money made from said remakes.
While there's no definitive plans to remake those three films, studio CEO Jim Robinson has confirmed that all three are being toyed around with for active development. In fact, the most surprising aspect about the Morgan Creek sale is that it isn't a move of desperation, it's actually a shrewd business play. With the studio producing a Tupac Shakur biopic, the money from the sale is going to go into that project's funding coffer. Considering the last film Morgan Creek had under its belt was the 2011 prequel to The Thing, you can see how the studio would need money to get back into the game. Considering how prolific they were around 20 years ago, Morgan Creek has definitely fallen on some hard times, which means there's really nowhere to go but up.
While the prospect of remaking films like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective or The Exorcist is pretty frightening, there are other possibilities that could make this deal worthwhile. Imagine if you will a nostalgic Quentin Tarantino. He sees that the rights to True Romance are up for purchase, and as he's always talking about retiring after a handful of movies, he decides the way to go out is the way he kinda/sorta came in. With this new deal, QT would be able to remake True Romance, complete with the original ending and all of the Tarantino-verse references he wants. We as film fans would be able to see the film the way it was meant to be seen from Tarantino's original viewpoint, and that's enough to make this deal sound worth the ink on the contract.
Remaking iconic films in Hollywood isn't going away anytime soon, despite what market research may be saying about how much audiences truly appreciate them. With stable footing, and a good intention behind their sale, we'd like to think that Morgan Creek is dedicated to premium remakes of their old standbys. Nostalgia only gets you in the door, but it's the quality of a remake that ultimately redeems its existence. All we can hope for is either a flat-out rejection of any subpar ideas attached to said licenses, or a proper re-imagining of those films we loved so long ago. Either way, so long as Nick Swardson isn't cast as the new Ace Ventura, we'll be open to pretty much anything.
