‘King Of Kong’ Director Seth Gordon Ready To Play ‘War Games’ In MGM Reboot
EXCLUSIVE: MGM will reboot the 1983 thriller War Games, and the studio has set Seth Gordon to develop the film to direct. Gordon, who made his breakthrough with the gaming documentary The King of Kong, most recently directed the New Line comedy Horrible Bosses, with Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Jamie Foxx. The reconstituted MGM has been going to town with remakes — landing Jose Padilha to direct Robocop and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa to script Carrie – but the John Badham-directed War Games is one that seems particularly reboot-able.
The original starred Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy as computer prodigies who finds a back door into a military computer program. They think they are playing games with the computer only to find they could trigger WWIII if the computer launches nuclear missiles at the Russians. In terms of computer games, kids were playing Pong back then; the level of sophistication with vidgames and the Internet in the digital age opens a wealth of possibilities, and Gordon will be given a wide berth to create a new take on the tale. The deal also reunites him with MGM toppers Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber and Jon Glickman, who were at Spyglass when Gordon directed Four Christmases there. Gordon’s repped by WME and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
this rocks. i just watched the old movie – a little clunky but a GREAT central idea. making a modern version could be great if they don’t f+ck it up. can matt b play a dad?
They are monetizing their IP. The projects are brands remake something people are already familiar with. But hey I rather see somehting new.
CLUNKY???? Pretty sure fire entertainment, if memory serves… and just because it was tension built of drama and good writing, not 2-second cuts and CGI, doesn’t mean it was “clunky,” just better…
Why? Why oh why oh why do we need a new War Games?
Remake Eagle Eye instead
Apparently, no one recalls the cheap sequel MGM spun off before its last round of financial difficulties — when the home entertainment division was blowing $$$ on stupid shit like sequels to “War Games.”
What is the sequel you speak of?
This is one of those awful sequels. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0865957/
Still waiting for the release of RED DAWN
Looks like people in hollywood who had an original idea for a movie have all either died or left in a hurry. In stead its now the dawn of remakes and reimaginings – as long as the studiobosses gets their big fat check
How right you are. Look at cable – they find a book by a small press in NJ called Boardwalk Empire and make a hit show. They find a less known Elmore Leonard work and make Justified. A clever series by Charlaine Harris and you have True Blood.
I can look across the room at my bookshelf right now and see at least 50 fiction and nonfiction books that would make great viewing – and instead they are remaking Footloose, Wargames, etc, etc, etc. Looks like the mailroom boys of the 80s finally got some decision making power and what do they do? They get all nostalgic for the popcorn movies of their youth.
May this go into production hell like every other MGM property they have made out of desperation.
Was that indie just a jumpstart for him?
If this has to be done, Gordon’s an interesting choice.
Or maybe try making something original. Greed triumphs over art.