Paramount to Remake 'Explorers'
03-13-14, 10:46 PM
#1
Moderator
Thread Starter
Paramount to Remake 'Explorers'
This one stings...
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hea...plorers-688024
The 1980s sci-fi adventure movie Explorers is getting the remake treatment.
Paramount’s low-budget Insurge label is behind the project, which will be produced by Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec, the writers behind Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and the American version of the British TV series Life on Mars.
Paramount also is hiring Geoff Moore and Dave Posamentier to write the script. The duo are the writer-directors behind Better Living Through Chemistry, a drug dramedy starring Sam Rockwell and Olivia Wilde that opens this weekend. (The pair only are writing Explorers, not directing.)
Explorers told the story of three teenaged boys who come together to create a homemade space ship. The movie marked the feature debuts of Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix -- the third kid was played by Jason Presson -- and was directed by Joe Dante, who made his name with Gremlins and The Howling.
With a release date moved up during production, the movie had a third act that was written on the fly and flopped at the box office when it hit theaters in summer 1985. However, Explorers had a second life when released on home video, and it now is considered an '80s classic. The movie is sometimes cited as being an Amblin film, though it wasn't produced by Steven Spielberg; Dante, however, is a Spielberg contemporary and worked with the iconic filmmaker on Gremlins and Innerspace, films that came before and after Explorers.
Details on what the 21st century version of Explorers will look like are being kept under wraps, though an insider said one template could be in the tone of Welcome to Yesterday, an upcoming movie produced by Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes and directed by Dean Israelite that has been wowing execs at the studio. Yesterday revolves around teens who construct a time machine.
Moore and Posamentier are repped by Verve and Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment and McKuin Frankel.
Paramount’s low-budget Insurge label is behind the project, which will be produced by Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec, the writers behind Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and the American version of the British TV series Life on Mars.
Paramount also is hiring Geoff Moore and Dave Posamentier to write the script. The duo are the writer-directors behind Better Living Through Chemistry, a drug dramedy starring Sam Rockwell and Olivia Wilde that opens this weekend. (The pair only are writing Explorers, not directing.)
Explorers told the story of three teenaged boys who come together to create a homemade space ship. The movie marked the feature debuts of Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix -- the third kid was played by Jason Presson -- and was directed by Joe Dante, who made his name with Gremlins and The Howling.
With a release date moved up during production, the movie had a third act that was written on the fly and flopped at the box office when it hit theaters in summer 1985. However, Explorers had a second life when released on home video, and it now is considered an '80s classic. The movie is sometimes cited as being an Amblin film, though it wasn't produced by Steven Spielberg; Dante, however, is a Spielberg contemporary and worked with the iconic filmmaker on Gremlins and Innerspace, films that came before and after Explorers.
Details on what the 21st century version of Explorers will look like are being kept under wraps, though an insider said one template could be in the tone of Welcome to Yesterday, an upcoming movie produced by Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes and directed by Dean Israelite that has been wowing execs at the studio. Yesterday revolves around teens who construct a time machine.
Moore and Posamentier are repped by Verve and Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment and McKuin Frankel.
03-14-14, 07:31 AM
#3
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Paramount to Remake 'Explorers'
I vaguely remember this film as a kid. I didn't hate it but it didn't resonate with me like ET, Karate Kid or any of the Death Wish movies my dad made me watch.
03-14-14, 08:14 AM
#4
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Paramount to Remake 'Explorers'
This seems pointless, but whatever.
One thing I do hope is that they get the ages of the boys (kids?) right. This movie, and Stand By Me, were about that junior high period where boys are still boys, having outgrown their earlier childhood interests but aren't yet in high school - that sort of in-between period. I hope they don't make them too young (and annoying) or too old (and cynical).
One thing I do hope is that they get the ages of the boys (kids?) right. This movie, and Stand By Me, were about that junior high period where boys are still boys, having outgrown their earlier childhood interests but aren't yet in high school - that sort of in-between period. I hope they don't make them too young (and annoying) or too old (and cynical).
03-14-14, 08:17 AM
#5
Re: Paramount to Remake 'Explorers'
I saw it in the theater and I liked the first half but it fell apart at the end. I was the same age as the protagonists and Amanda Peterson was on her way to hotness in Can't Buy Me Love.
03-14-14, 09:59 AM
#7
Moderator
Re: Paramount to Remake 'Explorers'
03-14-14, 09:59 AM
#8
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Paramount to Remake 'Explorers'
I need to Netflix this and give it a watch
03-14-14, 09:59 AM
#9
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Paramount to Remake 'Explorers'
[QUOTE=Drexl;12043979]This seems pointless, but whatever.
One thing I do hope is that they get the ages of the boys (kids?) right. This movie, and Stand By Me, were about that junior high period where boys are still boys, having outgrown their earlier childhood interests...QUOTE]
Well except for Vern...
No interest in this. The original holds a special place for me just because of the age I was when I first saw it but why remake it?
One thing I do hope is that they get the ages of the boys (kids?) right. This movie, and Stand By Me, were about that junior high period where boys are still boys, having outgrown their earlier childhood interests...QUOTE]
Well except for Vern...
No interest in this. The original holds a special place for me just because of the age I was when I first saw it but why remake it?
03-14-14, 11:00 AM
#10
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Paramount to Remake 'Explorers'
I remember really liking the first half of the movie but it really falls apart once
Spoiler:
They'd probably have to reimagine the kids' space ship. Do kids today even know what a "Tilt O'Whirl" is?
03-14-14, 11:16 AM
#11
Moderator
Thread Starter
Re: Paramount to Remake 'Explorers'
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/EygPaPLWj8k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Last edited by dex14; 03-14-14 at 11:24 AM.
03-14-14, 11:22 AM
#13
Banned by request
Re: Paramount to Remake 'Explorers'
Never cared for this movie as a kid, but than again it's been yearss since I last saw it. May give it a spin again so my kids can give it a shot.
03-14-14, 12:24 PM
#17
DVD Talk Hero
03-14-14, 05:28 PM
#20
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Re: Paramount to Remake 'Explorers'
This is the perfect example of a movie that SHOULD be remade. A film with a great concept but some major flaws. If they can write a better third act it could be fantastic.
03-15-14, 06:28 AM
#22
Re: Paramount to Remake 'Explorers'
I watched this again last night and I had a chuckle seeing this before the movie started:
The movie was still fun in the first half but dragged when they went into space -- and they were in space a long time. I read this on imdb but I doubt that the second half could have been resolved better:
Speaking of practical effects it must have been a logistical nightmare setting up the scene when the point of force runs rampant in the basement punching holes through everything in its path. And were they filming and showing Starkiller simultaneously at the drive-in? 
Rated PG for some mild language and action, and a brief scene involving beer
The movie was still fun in the first half but dragged when they went into space -- and they were in space a long time. I read this on imdb but I doubt that the second half could have been resolved better:
The film was never finished, and was released as a work in progress when the studio decided to move up the release date and release the film as it was, telling director Joe Dante that he was finished and they were going to go ahead and release what he had at that point.
03-17-14, 12:10 AM
#24
Re: Paramount to Remake 'Explorers'
I saw the original many times in my youth. Sure, the last act is silly, but the movie mainly relies on the performances of the leads, which works throughout the whole film.
I have no interest in another remake at this point. If it does get made and the trailer looks interesting, then maybe.
I have no interest in another remake at this point. If it does get made and the trailer looks interesting, then maybe.
