We all have favorite movies from our youth. One of mine is Clash of the Titans. Looking at the movie through untainted eyes, I can see there is some room for improvement, particularly in the CG effects world we live in today. Still, there’s that nostalgic hold the movie has over me that wants nothing to do with any sort of remake.
Like it or not, a remake is coming. This isn’t new - there’s been talk about remaking the classic take on Greek mythology for years. Lawrence Kasdan (The Empire Strikes Back) has even scripted the remake. Variety says the pressure is on Warner Brothers to move forward with their planned remake since Relativity Media has started work on their own sword-and-sandal picture, Tarsem’s War of Gods.
The first step for Warner Brothers is to assign a director for their Titans remake, and they’ve now taken that step. Louis Leterrier, director of this summer’s Incredible Hulk, will head up the new Clash of the Titans.
At first it struck me as odd that Variety would think another sword-and-sandal epic would force WB to move forward with their remake. Then I remembered a few years ago when that genre of movie was all the rage: Alexander, Troy, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven… yup, by the end of the line people had tired of those kind of stories. Personally, I think this was less because of a boom in the genre and more because the stories weren’t as good. I think WB would do well to make sure they had a good story to tell – a better story than Relativity’s War of the Gods - instead of just rushing into production to compete with a rival studio. Better stories get better attention, and with more people than just me having a nostalgic affection for the original movie, Warner Brothers already has something working against them if they don't do a remake justice.
