Whether it be the success of the insipid “Transformers” franchise, or perhaps Hollywood just has a crippling artificial intelligence neurosis, there are a whole lot of movies about robots going wild on their way to cinemas. From “King of Kong” director Seth Gordon‘s proposed “WarGames” remake to Steven Spielberg‘s on the horizon “Robocalypse,” if the next few years don’t make us scared of technological change, nothing will.
Universal is looking to add their own spin on the man versus machine tale with their previously announced remake of the 1970’s sci-fi pic “Colossus: The Forbin Project.” Variety has reported that screenwriter Blake Masters has been hired to rewrite the gestating script which last had a pass by Jason Rothenberg. If you recall, last fall Ron Howard and Will Smith were attached to the project as director and star and now their names are nowhere to be found, and with the former headed into “Rush” and the latter finishing “Men In Black III” before heading to “One Thousand A.E.” with M. Night Shyamalan we presume they have both moved on at this point.
The original ’70s film followed two supercomputers, one used by the United States and the other by a Soviet era Russia, who were swapping top secret government intelligence from their respective countries. When both computers turn on their human counterparts, the US and Russia must combine their military forces in an effort to battle these maniacal supercomputers.
Honestly, it’s a tad bit scary to think about where this remake could go. Especially if Universal chooses to go the route of the other Cold War era remake “Red Dawn,” and cast a currently harmless country as our proposed enemy. The choice of Masters, who has only a handful of writing credits on two generic police procedurals, “Law and Order: LA” and “Brotherhood,” fills us with little hope that Universal is looking to incorporate decent talent to class this remake up. Though perhaps there is something in his screenplay to the currently in-development Vince Vaughn vehicle, “2 Guns,” that we’re just not seeing. Then again, if Masters is simply another writer who’ll make some changes and then leave the project, perhaps it won’t be so bad after all. Though to be honest, the thought of a big budget tent pole concerning the military taking on artificial intelligence is bringing to mind the forgettable “Stealth.”
