Brand awareness is king in Hollywood. It’s responsible for “Battleship” and “Stretch Armstrong,” along with countless remakes and reboots. The theory goes if you use a pre-existing property—board game, toy, older movie—the easier your job is to get butts in the theater. Of course, reasonable people know that that way madness lies, but we have nevertheless ended up with this latest reboot.
First up, Variety is reporting that the ridiculous Ashton Kutcher-starring time-travel film “The Butterfly Effect” is being angled for its own reboot. Yes, a reboot. The film that saw the famed thespian travel through events in his life to try to change his unhappy present is being rebooted, and not simply remade because it spawned its very own sequels (two!) that went straight to video. Welcome to 2013, where a film with DTV sequels can be counted as a viable franchise in need of a reset. Fans of the original film—with a nearly $100 million box-office haul there has to be some out there—won’t have to worry about the “Butterfly Effect” legacy being tainted as the original film’s writer-director Eric Press is in charge of writing the reboot. If you need a refresher on the film, check out the insane alternate ending below.
Next up, Deadline reports that fellow B-movie, the Paul Bettany-starring religious and apocalyptic action film “Legion” might be heading to SyFy as a series. The network has commissioned a ninety-minute pilot from a script by “Sons Of Anarchy” vet Vaun Wilmott with the original film’s co-writer and director Scott Stewart at the helm. Titled “Dominion,” the series takes place long after the events of the film—25 years later—“after a war between an army of angels and mankind as transformed the world.” Bettany, of course, will not be returning and the lead is described as “a rebellious young soldier who discovers he’s the unlikely savior of humanity.” SyFy is no doubt hoping that the small-screen adaptation will follow in the footsteps of the now departed “Stargate: SG1” which spun off from the Roland Emmerich film. But will it provide as much Internet fodder as “Sharknado”?