Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap and Brad Pitt’s Plan B in Talks to Co-Produce ‘The Thin Man’ Remake

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/t...ie-1235749820/

Anyone can go out and make a movie about a high society married couple who get involved in murder mysteries, right?

IDK what value anyone thinks "The Thin Man" brand or the names Nick and Nora Charles have for the general public now.

Yeah, I know virtually nothing about The Thin Man movies except they seemed to have made a shit-ton of them in the 30s.

You might be surprised to know that Nick and Nora do have a non-zero amount of hipster cache. There is definitely some contemporary appeal to the idea of a fast talking couple who solve mysteries while downing martinis. It may not be widespread, but it's probably enough of a base to get something greenlit over a wholely original property.

The first movie was quite sharp. The sequels went into a steep decline. The dog went from being a pet to a major source of "comedy". I wonder which version of Thin Man movies they want to remake.

Instead of a funny, sophisticated couple drinking heavily during prohibition, perhaps it could be remade as a funny, sophisticated couple doing lots of cocaine in the modern day. Or maybe the new version would be set in the 1930s, despite the fact that prohibition has no emotional weight to today's audiences.

But a fast-talking couple of drunks who solve mysteries doesn't have to be an existing IP. Someone could just take that concept go with it. I'm not questioning the appeal of the concept. Just look at the popularity of Knive's Out and those Sandler Netflix movies. I'm questioning why they want to buy the rights to Nick and Nora.

I don't believe for one second that even 5% of the American population under 40 know who Nick and Nora Charles are or what "The Thin Man" is.

The Thin Man movies were set after Prohibition was repealed, btw.

And my argument is that there is a group of people who know who they are beyond old people and film nerds, but no matter how small that group is, it's still enough to give the movie a leg up on something without any ties to existing i.p.

Not unless they have an infinite playlist.

I don't think it is a "leg up." I think it is a handicap. Using an existing IP will limit the creativity because they will feel it is necessary to keep elements like the dog in the content. Plus, you create a situation where every time anyone talks about the project, they will find it necessary to explain its origins, and people will just roll their eyes because they don't want a film history lecture. Having a history works against it because people today are turned off by the idea that they would have to be brought up to speed on something.

Indiana Jones was based on the love of old-time movie serials and was made to emulate that spirit with the constant cliffhangers in the plot, but they made up an entirely new character.

If Pitt and Robbie have an interest in making a movie mystery in the spirit of The Thin Man series, they should just go ahead and do so with original ideas.

And seriously, what could be a bigger leg up fro a movie than it starring Robbie and Pitt?

"Did you see that there is a new movie starring two of the biggest movie stars in the world?" "The age of movie stars is over."

"Yeah, well it's based on a 90 year old movie that I bet you never heard of before!" "And now I'm sold!"

Remember when they tried to launch a Billy Zane franchise based on "The Phantom" character that the world had completely forgotten? Nobody gave a shit.

I know The Thin Man series quite well (it's a long time favorite). I have zero interest in a remake, much less with Pitt and Robbie.

I'm not the one you need to convince. Convince the studios who seem to take every opportunity they can to mine old i.p. Whether it works or not doesn't matter to me. It's just what happens.

I stand by my original point that Nick and Nora have a non-zero amount of cultural cache in 2023 and it doesn't surprise me one bit that someone would try to parlay that into a getting a new movie greenlit.

Non-zero? So out of the 140 million American 18-49 year old's, there are a "non-zero" number who have heard of The Thin Man movie series?

I guess I'm living in a different 2023 culture than you, because I would say the number is statistically insignificant enough to register as zero.

But they should definitely pursue this kind of project because Amsterdam proved that the public is thirsty for a depression-era mystery.

Being Girl Scout Cookie season they probably thought they were getting rights to a Thin Mints movie, you know in the style of that Doritos Flamin' pile movie.

I only just turned 52 this year, but many years back (well over 13 years back) I must have read a post on this site, or a site like The AV Club that caught my attention when it mentioned The Thin Man series, and I went on to but the DVD box set during a Deep Discount 25% off sale that used to generate 30 pages of posts every time the sale went active. I also watched all of the films, and found them to be quite enjoyable. That being said, for the most part you are correct, but done right this could be a fun film for a modern audience. At one point hearing the Depp was involved, or still wants to be involved in starring in this remake would not have tamped down my interest in seeing a film with him in it, but darn the internet for making it too easy for everyone's dirty laundry to be aired thus getting it into my head that perhaps they could find another leading man?

I still think Depp is incredible in the POTC films, and other films he made with Tim Burton, but forevermore it will always be in the the back of my mind that he was a shit boyfriend to Amber Heard (even if she was also a shit girlfriend to Depp), and other stuff like that I would be blissfully ignorant of pre-internet/rise of social media. Another actor whose films I will still watch quite often, Mel Gibson...not going to stop watching Lethal Weapon films because they are starring vehicles for Mel Gibson, but I can't get it out of my head that he is a crappy person.

Dashiell Hammett wrote the book on which the first Thin Man movie was based. He remains a very popular author of crime novels and "The Thin Man" (1934) is still in print and has, I'm guessing, been read by several generations. The Thin Man movies play regularly on TCM, so they must get good ratings.

Hammett also wrote "The Maltese Falcon," "The Glass Key," "Red Harvest" (the basis for YOJIMBO), "The Dain Curse" and "The Continental Op."

I'm under 40 (until November). I loved the original Thin Man movie. I'll watch this if Pitt and Robbie star as Nick and Nora.

I had been aware of The Thin Man movies for decades before I finally watched them. I'm a huge classic movie fan, and it wasn't until I was 53 that I finally watched them (the first 4 movies were repackaged in a budget DVD set which Amazon had for about $10, so I bought it). The first movie is great, and each subsequent movie is slightly weaker than the one before, but even the 4th movie was still good and very entertaining.

But my (then) 21 year old daughter had zero interest in watching any of them.

The name is out there. "The Thin Man." But very few people under 50 have watched any of the Thin Man movies, and while more people have seen the title than have watched it, most of the people who know of the name think it refers to the protagonist in the movie (which it, of course, does not).

I don't know how much value The Thin Man IP has in 2023/2024. I'd be curious to see if they totally screw it up, or give it the Knives Out kind of treatment to update it and it turns out to be really good. But I'm ancient. At least that's how Hollywood looks at people in my age group (mid 50's). For the 18-34 group I think The Thin Man is a non-starter unless it stars people they like.

I've been a big Hammett fan since I was a teen. The first movie is fantastic and while they do slide down in quality, all the rest of very watchable and entertaining. That said, it has always bothered me that they kept the Thin Man name. The actual Thin Man died in the first movie and he in no way shows up in any later films. I also thought it was a bit of a shame they never carried over the Greek origins of Nick from the book into the films (original name Charalambides). I could see them remaking the book rather than the film and having it come out well; a bit of a grittier take without all the light comedy. I would have zero interest in something with the same tone like the Nightmare Alley remake.

If Pitt and Robbie, I'll watch it. If not Pitt and Robbie, I'll watch it. Enjoyed the Thin Man movie series but if it does hit the screen with Pitt and Robbie, most will go to see it because of the stars vs. it being a "thin man" movie.