Universal has come here to do two things: chew bubblegum and remake John Carpenter’s They Live… and they’re all out of bubblegum.
Yes, on a particularly remake-heavy day, even by Hollywood’s standards, the studio has announced plans to conjure up a new version of Carpenter’s hugely enjoyable 1988 alien invasion movie, which starred Rowdy Roddy Piper as a drifter who, thanks to a pair of magical sunglasses, can see that evil aliens have infiltrated human society and are slowly taking over from within.
Although not Carpenter’s best work, the movie has a ramshackle charm, some demented dialogue (including the peerless line parodied above, in which Piper announces that he’s come to kick ass or chew gum… and he’s all out of gum), one of the greatest and longest fistfights of all time, and a barnstorming action climax, not to mention – hey! – a satirical subtext about the level of interference in our everyday lives.
It also looks like it cost about £20.38, so a remake that allows the new director (whoever that may be) to control some shiny new FX toys is not necessarily a bad thing.
No writer is yet attached, but Carpenter will executive produce, along with Shep Gordon, while Marc Abraham and Eric Newman, of Strike Entertainment (who are stumping up the cash along with Universal) will produce. Strike has previous in the remake business – they were behind Zack Snyder’s Dawn Of The Dead, and are working on a remake of Carpenter’s The Thing. Rest assured, readers, we’ll give that one a much harder time than **They Live… **