Shock Till You Drop is reporting that the 2008 Jason Statham high speed action-fest, Death Race, will be getting another movie. But not a sequel, no, the next Death Race will be a prequel. I guess we won’t be seeing Statham in this one, and not just because he’s got better things to do.
Director of the first Death Race, Paul W.S. Anderson, has already tapped writer Tony Giglio (Timber Falls, Chaos) to script the prequel, based on a story by Anderson. The film will be produced by Impact Pictures (a production outfit shared by Anderson and Jeremy Bolt), and word is it will delve into the past of the driver, Frankenstein.
The late-great David Carradine played Frankenstein in the original Death Race 2000 back in the ’70s, with him doing a brief voice appearance as the character in the remake before Statham’s character, Jensen Ames, replaced him in the driver’s seat. As I said, since this is a prequel, logically we can expect not to see much of Death Race’s cast, most notably Statham (I’m sure they’re mulling over ways they could include him, but it just doesn’t make sense story-wise).
Having said that, Tony Giglio (who may also direct this prequel), directed Statham in the straight-to-DVD Chaos. And with the potential that this could go straight-to-DVD, it almost seems like all the dots are already being connected. Anderson will next go to work on the 3D Resident Evil 4: Afterlife (on which Giglio will be a second unit director), but after that he and Bolt will oversee the Death Race prequel.
It was almost inevitable they’d want to go back to the Death Race well more than once, both because the metal carnage it allows is probably too hard to resist for an action director, and it more than doubled it’s money at the box office. It cost $45 million to make and made almost $100 million if you count DVD sales. Will they keep the budget in the same range, go higher or lower? I’m willing to guess the latter.
I really enjoyed myself with Death Race when it came out last year – no, it wasn’t technically a great movie, but it was a load of fun, particularly in a movie theater with the huge screen and speakers. Although I guess that aspect would be lost if the prequel went straight-to-DVD.
The idea of a prequel doesn’t really bother me either way – I wouldn’t necessarily be the first in line to see it, but nor would I actively avoid it.
What do you think about a Death Race prequel? Any thoughts on what the story could specifically be?
Source: ShockTillYouDrop
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