Thank You Jordan Peele For Being Interested in Telling Original Stories Over Remakes
Said no to Akira remake.
Call it boredom, call it reboot fatigue, call it whatever you want. Whenever I hear about a new remake, I’m more apprehensive than I am fully on board. I’m not gonna lie, there are some that have caught my eye like the new Mummy only because Sofia Boutella looks something fierce in the trailers. But for the most part, I’m filled with dread.
That’s why it was so refreshing to see Jordan Peele’s Get Out, the little indie horror that could. The film took the notion of a post-racial society to task and has since raked in more than $215 million. That’s pretty impressive given it was made on a $4.5 million budget. Its success has solidified Peele as a director to watch and I have doubt that a flurry of scripts are headed his way.
According to Collider, Warner Bros. approached him to helm the Akira remake, which has spent a significant amount of time in development. Peele turned it down, opting for more original stories.
“I think [I could do it] if the story justifies it,” he told Blumhouse.com. “Akira is one of my favorite movies, and I think obviously the story justifies as big a budget as you can possibly dream of. But the real question for me is: Do I want to do pre-existing material, or do I want to do original content? At the end of the day, I want to do original stuff.” And with that, I say thanks. These days, it’s so easy for a director to hop on a sequel or remake for a paycheck which is why I commend him for going against that.
While nostalgia might be the in thing at the moment, I think audiences are starting to lean towards more unique stories. Don’t you agree?
(via Collider, image: Fandango)
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