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They're Remaking Red Dawn?! Shame On You MGM!
July 9, 2008
by Alex Billington
Wolverines! One of my personal favorite untouchable cult classics is Red Dawn, the 1984 movie about Russia invading America. Guess what - Hollywood is remaking this one, too. Oh hell no! I'm sure no one is surprised to hear that it's MGM (who is also remaking RoboCop and Hellraiser) who is bringing this back from the dead. There is really no way I can see this turning out great, but let's see who's involved first. Screenwriter Carl Ellsworth, of Red Eye and Disturbia, is writing the screenplay, while Dan Bradley, a second unit director and stunt coordinator on films like The Bourne Ultimatum, Spider-Man 3, and Quantum of Solace, will be directing his first feature film. Any chance it could be any good? I doubt it.
Ellsworth explains his plans: "The tone is going to be very intense, very much keeping in mind the post-9/11 world that we're in. As Red Dawn scared the heck out of people in 1984, we feel that the world is kind of already filled with a lot of paranoia and unease, so why not scare the hell out of people again?" Because you don't fix what ain't broken! For those poor souls who aren't familiar with the amazing Red Dawn, the film begins with Russian paratroopers landing outside of a school in Colorado. They then presume shoot up the entire place except for a group of four teenagers who flee to the mountains who then rally and fight back. Absolute brilliance. Red Dawn was one of Patrick Swayze's greatest roles of all time, too!
Considering Ellsworth's description sounds like they're going to modernize it (maybe China or Iraq will invade instead) and turn it into an explosively cheesy and entirely unnecessary re-imagining, I'm really not at all looking forward to this. I love the original Red Dawn so much, not because it's a masterpiece, but because it's so perfectly low quality that it's more entertaining than anything we've seen all this year. Unfortunately a remake means they're not going to keep that same campy aspect from the original. Instead, it's going to be turned into a film designed to attract high school teens for opening weekend and that's it. Shame on you MGM! Why are you ruining so many of my childhood memories?!
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Reader Feedback - 23 Comments »
1
Ah so it's just going to be Red Dawn with a bunch of pretty kids in it then and alot more explosions.
Hollywood needs to pull its head out of its arse.
Whats next? remakes of the Bruce Lee films with a CGI Bruce?
Dr Phaust on Jul 9, 2008
2
I'll be refusing to see this…I know let's remake ET…wait, no, let's remake Jaws next…and that Godfather movie, we really need to update that for a new generation that's apparently unable to rent DVD's to see a classic…
wetworks on Jul 9, 2008
3
If they even touch … Goonies …
I will have to hurt someone.
E on Jul 9, 2008
4
i want them to drop this and remake return of the swamp thing
"hes gotta grudge because they turned him into sludge"
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi620298521/
Jont on Jul 9, 2008
5
this film might turn out to be really good but this is so wrong. Red dawn is a classic.
Darrin on Jul 9, 2008
6
While I completely agree with your comments, Alex - I ask why do they have to call this a remake? Why can't they just make a somewhat different movie with muslim extremists/terrorists instead of Commies (and maybe do it from a character's perspective, a la Cloverfield) and go from there? I think a movie done this way could tell a different story than the beloved Red Dawn.
Steve on Jul 9, 2008
7
So… what are going to call it? The original was called Red Dawn as a reference to the invading Russian army. If it's not Russians (or the Chinese as the article mentions) invading, you can't very well call it "Red" Dawn.
So what will it be called if Iraq invades? Camel Dawn? Dawn of the Turban? You Killed My Dictator?
There's no way this should even be done at all. Let it go.
Dave Lister, JMC on Jul 9, 2008
8
theyre getting the cast of high school musical for this i hear
great movie, only movie i enjoyed swayze in
harrison on Jul 9, 2008
9
It's not hip to like this film but I thinks it great. Swayze and Sheen dying as brothers together in the snow covered playground was a memorable scene. Some great set pieces and to me it was always like the coolest dream I ever had. Can you imagine if Russia ever invaded the USA, what a film that would be. Blow me then if they didn't give it the Hollywood treatment.
This claim has to be bogus because surely no studio has the political stomach for the inevitable backlash that would come from which ever country/religious group it was that did the invading.
Payne by name on Jul 9, 2008
10
"The tone is going to be very intense, very much keeping in mind the post-9/11 world that we're in. As Red Dawn scared the heck out of people in 1984, we feel that the world is kind of already filled with a lot of paranoia and unease, so why not scare the hell out of people again?"
Oh, come on! Ooga booga booga! The Muslims are gonna getcha! Be afraid! Be afraid! They're under your bed! They're in your closet! They're gonna be under the table at your birthday party! Profile! Fear! Cry!
But it's ok. Your government has banded together some hot teenagers. Go back to bed America, your government is in control again. Here. Here's The New American Gladiators. Watch this! Shut up! Go back to bed, America. Here is The New American Gladiators. Here is 56 channels of it! Watch these pituitary retards band their skulls together and congratulate you on living in the land of freedom. Here you go, America! You are free to do what we tell you! You are free to do what we tell you!
The War on Terrorism is a joke.
Red Dawn is awesome though. The only possible way I would maybe even see a remake is if the antagonist is the American government after declaring martial law and shoving people into FEMA Camps. That's the only realistic plot if you want to make it a modern story.
Viper on Jul 9, 2008
11
Everyone in hollywood has to be given a chance to prove himself. Just because he is a second unit director does not mean that the movie will suck.
I see bunch of bafoon moviebloggers claiming they could have made an awesome flick but I bet they can't do shit except watching movies and writing about them.
So ya Alex Billington there ya go.
Jojo on Jul 9, 2008
12
oh ffs, leave this movie alone — stop doing remakes.
rissu on Jul 9, 2008
13
Jojo, you missed the point completely. He loves the movie so much that making a "modern" version of it is absolute heresy, regardless of director. The fact that a stunt coordinator is going to try his hand at the whole thing is just icing on this shitty, shitty cake.
The movie is absolutely one of my favorites (I think I'll watch it tonight. Currently the special edition DVD is sitting at my feet 
), and the idea of it being remade with a modern twist (China, Muslims, North Korea, etc.) is fucking stupid, plain and simple. It's a bid for money, and unless some fantastic bloody reviews come out for it, I refuse to give money to someone who would so ruthlessly slaughter a classic for his own ends.
Sean on Jul 9, 2008
15
The China scenario is the only viable one that I can see. You people have to realize that the original Red Dawn was a campy take on Soviet communist paranoia. What are people paranoid about today? Well terrorists don't invade, there aren't enough of them. How about all the talk about how China is this growing juggernaut of a nation, how their military is expanding at an incredible rate, and all of this is true!
If they go with the China scenario I'll be happy, because anything else would be rediculous.
Chris H. on Jul 9, 2008
16
DIE IN A FIRE MGM, stop throwing up on the classics!
Honestly, F*** them if this is the best they can deliver. I call a boycott of this tripe when it hits theaters. Maybe when they all bomb horribly they will stop thinking this remake/reboot thing is a gold mine.
interl0per on Jul 9, 2008
17
Throwing up on the classics? That's putting it lightly. More like taking a giant stinking dump on each and every good movie from the past twenty-five years.
avoidz on Jul 9, 2008
18
Any movie that's 25 years old is free reign for remakes with these studios. It's a shame, but it's going to happen. If movies are still around 25 years from now, Trnsformers, The Dark Night will be remade again. Doesn't it make you want to be a millionare so you can buy all the rights to great movies and then deny any hack that wants to remake them…pure joy that would be.
wm on Jul 9, 2008
19
Yes, but so many of them; one after another after another…
avoidz on Jul 9, 2008
20
In my opinion there is no reason to remake this (awesome) movie.
Even with the Cold War over the story is still relevant. That people who prepare for war (or prepare for the worst) will be able to fight and if people fight then can win even against seemingly impossible odds, even if you're a group of young children. The kids in Red Dawn were fighting for something they believed in, fighting an evil enemy, and never gave up (even unto their deaths). What's not to like? What's so wrong with that it needs to be remade?
Of course the movie will be "modernized" and even made politically correct as not to offend potential real-life invaders.
Although how can you make a World War III invasion of America P.C. I have no idea.
Hollywood…anything for a buck…
JeepFu on Jul 10, 2008
21
JESUS GOD IN HEAVEN! IS NOTHING SACRED ANYMORE?????
vyperstrike on Jul 10, 2008
22
What I find hilarious is the irony that will not be apparent to anyone in the US, but absolutely everyone else ’round the world. Red Dawn (an awesome movie btw) is about a county being overrun and occupied by an other. The occupying forces have military advantage (tanks, helicopters etc) over those they occupy. The (occupied) civilians take up arms and perpetrate acts of violence and sabotage on the occupiers.
Doesn't this sound familiar to anyone, this movie is playing out right now, maybe not as pretty as Hollywood makes them but all the elements are there.
Come one America pull your head out.
johnny on Jul 17, 2008
23
Give it a chance. I know that Red Dawn is classic, but, lets see what they are going to do with it. There are plenty of re makes out there that are better than the first.
Lets wait and see.
eagle on Jul 18, 2008