For those you who outraged by the news that a Poltergeist remake was coming – you can now breath a little easier. Well, at least for a while longer. Bloody-Disgusting is reporting that MGM’s remake of the classic 1982 ghost-horror has been pushed back from its original November 24th, 2010 release date to an undetermined date in 2011.
As far as we know, House of Sand and Fog director, Vadim Perelman, is still set to helm the Poltergeist update, and Knowing writers, Juliet Snowden and Stiles White are still writing the screenplay. With the film being at MGM, my immediate reaction was this delay might have something to do with their recent financial difficulties. However, we now have an official reason for the delay, as the studio contacted Bloody-Disgusting directly to tell them the film’s set to start production sometime in early 2010, and they simply couldn’t get it done and dusted in time for its original November release.
Ah, and here was me hoping it would be delayed indefinitely and then scrapped altogether. No such luck, I suppose. At least we’ll have a few more months (and I imagine it won’t be much longer than that) to cherish the original before we have to see ads for the remake everywhere we look. I said it when the original release date got announced: Poltergeist is just one of those film’s that really doesn’t need to be remade.
I don’t see the idea benefiting greatly from an updated telling, even after 27 years have passed. The original Poltergeist holds up well even now, and I imagine a lot of the current moviegoing audience have seen it, so I don’t think it’s a valid reason to say that a remake will (re)introduce people to the story. As always, I’m willing to give it a chance but my expectations are low at this point – past (horror) remakes have conditioned me to think that way.
Are you glad the Poltergeist remake has been delayed? Do you think the original should be updated or left alone?
As stated, Poltergeist is set to start production in early 2010, and now has a release date of sometime in 2011. We’ll keep you posted on the exact date.
Source: Bloody-Disgusting
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