‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ $22M Friday For Lower … 
Finally, Cannes Dealing! Radius-TWC Nabs Director’s … 
Hammond On Cannes: Wet Fest’s Official Competition … 
‘Vampire Academy’ Adds ‘Modern … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Shark Tank’ Finale Up, … 
Cannes: Worldview Options Andrew Dominik’s Marilyn … 
UPFRONTS 2013: The Overachievers 
‘Mike & Molly’ Creator Mark Roberts To … 
Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts Set For … 
Hammond On Cannes: Weinstein Brings Out Stars For 2013 … 
Cannes: Fake Gunshots Interrupt Canal Plus Live Broadcast … 
‘The Great Gatsby’ Starts With $5.4M … 
Cannes: Music Box Snags Competition’s ‘Michael … 
UPDATE: Amazon Studios Begins Pilot Pickups; … 
Bruce Rosenblum Bids Classy Goodbye 
RATINGS RAT RACE UPDATE: ‘American Idol’ Hits … 
UPDATE: ‘Iron Man 3′ Box Office Crosses $1B … 
Upfront Market: Will Auto Makers Subsidize TV … 
Cannes: Thief Makes Off With $1M+ In Chopard Jewelry Meant … 
‘Scandal’ Finale On Small Screen And Onstage At … 
‘Modern Family’ Gets Cable Makeover For Launch … 
While its struggle to unload Miramax Films and its library continues, Disney has just set a January 21, 2011 release date for the Miramax thriller Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. The Troy Nixey-directed film, written by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins, stars Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce. The film is a remake of the 1973 ABC telepic. A young girl, sent to live with her father and his girlfriend, and she is stalked by a swarm of tiny, nasty monsters. The filmmakers expected that the picture would be lost in a custody battle to whatever company won the Miramax library. Despite the fact that the film will be R-rated, there is enthusiasm that it is staying with Disney. I’m told the studio quite likes the film, and while they don’t do R-rated stuff, they can make an exception on the Miramax label.
Loading ...
Just another in the longlong of remake/reboots – while the logline above states:
“A young girl, sent to live with her father and his girlfriend, and she is stalked by a swarm of tiny, nasty monsters.”
Actually, in the original 1973 ABC TV Movie-of-the-Week starring the one & only Kim Darby (!), the plot involved a young newlywed couple moving into a home haunted by tiny demons NOT a young girl being sent to live with her father, etc.
So is Katie playing the “young girl” or the “girlfriend” role?
While they’re at it, if they’re remaking DON’T BE AFRAID, they should (finally) go ahead & remake my all-time favorite fun-scary ABC 70s TV movie: BAD RONALD (!!), which finally made it to DVD just last year via the WB Archive collection.
They don’t make ‘em like they used to – and I predict this remake will prove that point once again.
Oh no – the scariest TV film from the 70s was A Cold Night’s Death w/Robert Culp and Eli Wallach, with Dying Room Only coming in second. Some of them were close to brilliant and made for next to nothing.
I thought Del Toro ended up shooting most of this. Not true?
I know it’s fashionable to hate everything Cruise, but I think Katie Holmes is lovely. That said, this movie sounds like utter crap.
If the studio likes the film, why are they releasing it January 21??
Don’t forget “Trilogy of Terror”…I think that’s what it was called. That movie where the woman is haunted by that African doll and she throws it in the oven, etc. That and “Don’t be afraid…” haunted my childhood nights. (That lady should have listened to Uncle Charlie and stayed out of the basement) One question that always stuck was, at the end, when the husband looks down the hole with his flashlight after those “little demons” dragged his wife down there…what did he see? They never tell you…maybe that was the point.
Is this really how the film industry wants to be remembered? As a producer of boring, pointless, remakes?
I’m starting to think they have some kind of allergy to original ideas and new writers. All we ever get now are annoying remakes and tired fare from burned out writers who have been in the industry ever since they put out to a producer for the first time.
Why can’t these (expletive) go read some of the cool and original scripts coming out of the writing contests and turn some of them into films?
A few years ago, the CS Expo writing contest was won by a script that extrapolated the Steven Wright ‘joke’: “I went to bed and when I woke up, everything in my house had been replaced with a perfect replica”.
Would I like to see that? YES. If I could see it without a bunch of Charlie Kaufman’s self-loathing? HELL YES.
Am I going to go see this sequel of a 1973 afterschool special? NO.
Where can I get that screenplay? I’ll make it!
What will disney do when they dont’ have miramax to release R rated fare — didn’t they stop releasing R rated movies for touchstone. Guess no more R rated films for disney?
The studios’ attitude towards releasing films in January seems to be changing.
When I first read the Natalie Portman-Ashton Kutcher comedy was scheduled for January 7th I thought why bother making a movie you’re going to release January 7th? But “The Green Hornet” and the Ron Howard comedy “Cheaters” are both scheduled for January 14th, so maybe January’s “dumping ground” persona is on its way out.