Nearly 40 years after its release, The Thing remains a staple of the sci-fi and horror genres. As many of you may already know, the movie was inspired by the 1938 novella by John Campbell Jr. called Who Goes There?, which was previously adapted for 1951’s The Thing From Another World. Well, it turns out a new version of The Thing is on the way, only this time it’ll have a lot more source material to pull from.
In a now-deleted Facebook post, executive producer Alan Donnes announced that he’s tackling a remake of The Thing, which will pull from a novel called Frozen Hell. In 2018, it was discovered that Who Goes There? was actually a shortened version of a longer story that John Campbell Jr. had written, and the Frozen Hell manuscript laid untouched for decades.
A Kickstarter was subsequently launched by John Betancourt to publish the full Frozen Hell novel, and upon successfully raising enough money, digital distribution began earlier this month and the physical copies will arrive in June. But now a new version of The Thing is on the way that, as Alan Donnes put it, “include the very best of RKO's The Thing From Another World, John Carpenter's classic The Thing and both books, Frozen Hell and Who Goes There?
Furthermore, John Betancourt revealed on the Frozen Hell: The Book That Inspired The Thing Kickstarter page that Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions are tackling The Thing remake, and it’s being fast-tracked. So while a release date hasn’t been set just yet, it sounds like we can expect it sooner rather than later.
On the off chance you’ve never seen The Thing, the John Carpenter-helmed movie followed a group of scientists in Antarctica who encountered the eponymous, parasitic creature, which is capable of assimilating and imitating other organisms. The cast included Kurt Russell, Keith David, Wilford Brimley and many others, and although it was initially met with a lot of negative reviews, it’s gone on to earn a much better reputation thanks to home media and television screenings.
While another movie called The Thing was released in 2011, this wasn’t a remake, but rather a prequel to the 1982 version showing how the alien monstrosity was discovered and freed from confinement. That movie also wasn’t received well, and unlike its predecessor, I doubt public opinion has changed on it as we approach its 10th anniversary.
Blumhouse has spent the last decade becoming one of the biggest names in the horror genre with movies like The Purge, Sinister, Get Out and Halloween. Granted, not every one of its horror offerings has been a hit, but just going off the company’s general track record, one would imagine that this new version of The Thing is in pretty good hands. Plus, the fact that there’s so much extra source material available ideally means this remake will stand out more rather than be a straightforward rehash.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more news on how this remake of The Thing is coming along. In the meantime, keep track of what’s hitting theaters this year with our 2020 release schedule.
