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EXCLUSIVE: MGM will reboot the 1983 thriller War Games, and the studio has set Seth Gordon to develop the film to direct. Gordon, who made his breakthrough with the gaming documentary The King of Kong, most recently directed the New Line comedy Horrible Bosses, with Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Jamie Foxx. The reconstituted MGM has been going to town with remakes — landing Jose Padilha to direct Robocop and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa to script Carrie – but the John Badham-directed War Games is one that seems particularly reboot-able.
The original starred Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy as computer prodigies who finds a back door into a military computer program. They think they are playing games with the computer only to find they could trigger WWIII if the computer launches nuclear missiles at the Russians. In terms of computer games, kids were playing Pong back then; the level of sophistication with vidgames and the Internet in the digital age opens a wealth of possibilities, and Gordon will be given a wide berth to create a new take on the tale. The deal also reunites him with MGM toppers Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber and Jon Glickman, who were at Spyglass when Gordon directed Four Christmases there. Gordon’s repped by WME and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
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I think the original is still pretty good, saw it again a few years ago, and enjoyed it a great deal. I ignore all remakes, and hope the American public will also one of these days as well.
In this version, David does it for the lulz.
Why don’t they just do the story of the kid that hacked into the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency and Sony and could get 10 years while a monster that stood by and let a child be beaten and murdered then got 4 that’s 4 not 40 years and now demands a facelift so people wont recognizes him. ok that last bit was me on a rant but the story of the kid hacker would be better than wargames AGAIN
Fried Chicken!!
Hollywood has finally driven the last nail in the coffin of originality.
“You can’t go back home to your family, back home to your childhood … back home to a young man’s dreams of glory and of fame … back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time — back home to the escapes of Time and Memory.”
- Thomas Wolfe, “You Can’t Go Home Again”, 1940
Hollywood hasn’t completely hit the skids yet. Nobody has suggested a remake of “Showgirls”.
Shall we play a game?
Love to. How about Global Box office receipts.
Wouldn’t you prefer a nice game of chess?
I like the choice of director, but I doubt anyone can improve on the original. I loved the original film, and the idea that MGM wants a remake is not surprising. I agree with ‘Mr. Potato Head’, about the idea being “wrapped up in the era” of the early ’80s, and therefore not necessarily easy to remake, assuming the story will be updated for today. If it is, I hope Gordon can retain the sweetness and charm of the original film.
“Wargames” is one of the better films of its kind – a thoughtful commentary on the arms race aimed at teen audiences, with romance, action and suspense rolled into the mix – making it a very entertaining movie. The sheer number of imitators made since it was released demonstrates how effective it was. When I first saw it, I was only 12 years old, so the plot had huge resonance with me at the time. The threat of nuclear war was very real back then, and the film was filled with new technology – from modems to floppy disks. Matthew Broderick’s performance (an obvious precursor to Ferris Bueller) was outstanding, and both Ally Sheedy and Dabney Coleman were huge parts of the film’s appeal.
There would be many fans of the movie now in their forties who would most likely skip any remake and watch the original again. But if, as the article says, “Gordon will be given a wide berth to create a new take on the tale”, then something fun could be made out of the basic premise of two teens inadvertently gaining access to the strategic defense system and almost causing W.W.III.
Or, as ‘Mr. Potato Head’ suggested, perhaps it should be a ‘period piece’ and recreate the era of the early ’80s… but then, what would a new cast bring that wasn’t there in the original?
It’s going to be tough to reboot/remake/regurgitate this one. The original is steeped in Cold War and early computer phobias. Now our enemies are much different and computers have seeped into every part of our lives.
Plus not sure how a director goes from making a string of middling comedies to a thriller like this. Must have been some pitch. Good luck MGM. Seems like you’re going to need it.
I like this – the original has a good feel about it, the Spielbergian innocence of the boy and the girl, it’s sweet.
I’d take this remake over originals if the originals are Saw or Expendables style gore/bloodfests with rude and disgusting sensibilities.
New, exciting matieral? F that! Let’s remake EVERYTHING!!! Charlie and the chocolate factory? Footloose? Perfect the first time, you say? Hell no! We could do smurfs even BETTER THIS TIME!!!
I think it is time for a remake of “The Player”, but it will end with Tim Robbins Producer character being killed by some writer who doesn’t want his movie turned into a reboot. We’ll call it “The Replayer”. How about a remake of Sunset Boulevard, which ends with Gloria Swanson’s character showing up on the studio lot with a Machine gun, which she then uses to go on a murder rampage through, we’ll say, MGM Studios. “I’m Ready For My Closeup, Mutha Ucka’s” I think those remakes would be better than War Games.
The orignal is still fantastic! Why do we need another one. HE’s a great director, but come on.
I think I’ll see ‘Robopocalypse’ when it comes out instead.
A reboot I actually want to see. I guess it was bound to happen once before I die.
I really have no words for hollywood on this, most of the comments above me are the gospel on remakes.
war games the match beyond
NOOOOOO! Never remake WarGames! No one could do it better than Broderick!
“The original starred Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy as computer prodigies..”
Did you even see the movie?!#
She wasn’t a prodigy!@# She was just the hot chick he was trying to impress. She was smart enough to hang with the guy that could end the world but a 1337 haxor she was not!
ummmm hacking back then was kind of twee and I wanted broderick to get away from the man but now (especially after my PS3 went offline for a month) i would like to see all hackers sent to guantanamo bay so that they can lose thier virginity.
Also, do kids today live in fear of total nuclear annihilation like we did in the 80′s?
Would rather see a well done adaption of Ender’s Game.
Exactly, even if it is from Bean’s perspective, like the last hundred potential scripts were.
Some movies should not be re-made.
12 Angry Men
The Karate Kid
War Games
Tron
end of line.
Goddammit, I’d piss on a spark plug if I thought it’d do any good to help this remake!
This can only go poorly, and I loved “The King of Kong.” War Games has a naivete about it, and is a well-paced, well-acted story that exposed a world of early hackerdom rarely seen in the public eye.
Lemme see… I’ll bet Shia Labouef gets the part. And as his sidekick, who, Mila Kunis?
Hollywood studios suffer from a bankruptcy of ideas not only in remakes (say it with me now… “ARTHUR”!) and in original scripts.
WarGames is my all-time favorite movie. I think a remake could be a lot of fun, but the original will always be the best in my book.