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Since I started writing for Screen Rant I have no idea how many movie remake stories I’ve covered, but every week seems to bring a new one. This week: Highlander.
If you don’t know, Highlander tells the tale of a 16th Century Scotsman - a highlander who happens to be immortal. He and other “immortals” fight through the ages in order to win “The Prize.” The only way that they can die is to be decapitated. Ouch!
The cast included Frenchman Christopher Lambert as the titular Highlander - Connor Macleod, Scotsman Sean Connery as a Spaniard and American Clancy Brown as the Germanic Kurgan.
It’s an outstanding movie… if a tad dated. It was released in 1986 and the soundtrack was composed by the band Queen.
The tag-line for the movie was: “There can be only one.”
We have now had four sequels, two television series, an animated series and now here comes a remake…
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Summit Entertainment will produce the remake in the hope of resuscitating the franchise following its destruction directly after the end credits of the first film.
Iron Man scripters Art Marcum and Matt Holloway have been hired to pen the script, so there’s at least some hope that this could actually turn out to be a decent “re-imagining” of the story.
Summit’s co-chairman Patrick Wachsberger said:
“I have always dreamed of reinventing this franchise. We think the franchise will work on a global basis.”
Apparently the film “will mix contemporary settings, action, mythology and medieval Scotland.”
Just like the original then.
No word on cast or director, but I’ll bet good money that they give Gerard Butler a call..for either the lead or the Spanish Ramirez (Sean Connery in the original).
I’ll let you know the news as we get it.
Source: Variety
11 Comments
BUT THERE CAN BE ONLY OOOOOOOOOOONE!!!!!
AARRGGHHHH RAMIREZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!
Liked movie, never bothered with sequels or series.
I don’t want to see this remade.
This is soooo lame.
So Davis/Panzer no longer controls the franchise? Or is Summit Entertainment working with them? Or is Summit Entertainment the new name of Davis/Panzer now that Bill Panzer is gone?
In any case, I don’t know that I’m in favor of this. While I’ve enjoyed, to varying degrees, all the Highlander shows and movies to date, the quality has declined rather steadily since the last half of the fifth season of the series. My feeling about Highlander are, like the Trek franchise, that it should take a break for a few years, and revitalize itself.
The last thing this franchise needs is a remake that throws everything out but drags the franchise even further down in terms of quality.
Two words: bloody unnecessary!
ZAR.
You forgot the little-known Atari Jaguar Highlander game (based on the little-known animated series), as well as the recent anime movie, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance.
Obscure Highlander releases aside, a REMAKE need not even be attempted. This is an awful idea. There will be no Sean Connery. They’ll ditch the Queen soundtrack. MacLeod will be played by a complete tool. I hope this ends up in development hell.
NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would look forward to this, as long as they get the right people. They should get Brian Thompson (The Night Slasher in Cobra) to play the Kurgen; they should also keep the Queen music.
Hey, I’d love to see Highlander become mainstream again. The Tv series in early nineties was solid with Adrian Paul as Duncan Macleod and featured tons of awesome cameos each episode - Ron Perlman for one
YES! I know blasphemy right? Guys think about it. Highlander 2 basically hit rock bottom and everything that followed dragged the poor Highlander world through a great big pile of…shiat. What I’m saying is a remake if done in the spirit of the first Highlander movie may do very well. Please no aliens. No added supernatural powers. No futuristic worlds. No flashback-less movies. Just Immortality, flashbacks, swordplay, and great villians.
But wait…who could ever live up to Clancy Brown’s portrayal of the Kurgan?
Another thing I think is very important to the Highlander world is the Teacher-Pupil relationships. Ramirez-Connor-Duncan. The fact is there is so many directions you could go with the story that all it takes is a true fan of Highlander which Patrick Wachsberger seems to be to make a masterpiece.
What's your opinion? Leave a comment!