Wednesday 29 June 2011

WarGames Gets Reboot

"Shall we play a game?" Those words proved to be the world's most terrifying syllables in the visionary 1983 movie WarGames. As teen hackers David and Jennifer, Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy found a back door into a military computer program thinking only to play games. What they found nearly launched WWIII. The film was directed by John Badham of Saturday Night Fever fame and co-starred Dabney Coleman, Barry Corbin and John Wood.

WarGames was groundbreaking cinema because for the first time Hollywood turned the camera lens on this thing called hacking. It was a whole new world for all of us. Back then Atari was the only gaming system and most of us got our gamer on in an arcade. Space Invaders, Asteroid and Centipede were the games. Very few people could even afford a computer. Yet, of all the flicks getting reboots, this is one title whose plot and storyline are more than relevant in today's world.


Deadline reports that director Seth Gordon of Horrible Bosses, Four Christmases and the gamer documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters has been tapped to helm this project. He is going to have huge leeway with production as there is such a wealth of digital tech now available that wasn't when the original came out. He could even take the story in a whole new direction.




















I am very excited about this reboot. I love a good hacker tale and WarGames more than fills the bill. And because I love this movie, here's a look at the original trailer.

13 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Please don't tell me they are remaking War Games?!

Unknown said...

@Alex They are and really I'm looking forward to it, though I doubt that it will have the same freshness that the original had because all the tech was so new.

Unknown said...

who knows. maybe? im inclined to believe they're using an old idea to get new money but.....we'll see

Unknown said...

@Mack I agree. It's definitely an old idea, but I think there are possibilities since this subject is still so relevant. It could work.

Craig Edwards said...

I'm intrigued - but the changes in technology alone seem to suggest it'll be a very different movie...by the way, has anyone here tried the WarGames "sequel" that came out just a few years ago?

Unknown said...

@Craig I have not heard of this sequel. I'll have to find out more about this.

I hear you. The tech would make it a very different story. I'm intrigued by that. Hacking always fascinates me because I have no computer skills whatsoever.

FilmMattic said...

Interesting remake.

I'm a staunch believer of remakes/reboots/re-imaginings when they're are born out of creative enterprise (not monetization). I think WarGames could work because of the enormous expansion of the tech/hacker world. It's a movie I will watch without reservation, so long as the studio assembles the proper creative team (director, screenwriter, producer, cast, etc.) and gives them the freedom to make something relevant and entertaining.

Unknown said...

@MAtt I'm excited about WarGames. From what I've read Seth will have tremendous creative control to really re-imagine this into something special, worthy of its predecessor.

I know what you mean about remakes born out of creativity rather than the need for more money. This sounds like one of those types of films.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

They would have to re-envision a whole new threat. It wouldn't be a remake as much as a retelling.

Unknown said...

@Alex You're absolutely right. It would be a retelling, but it could very good. They could keep all the same characters, maybe expand David and Jennifer's circle of friends and go all out.

Jaccstev said...

Never watched the classic version but it indeed sound like a good source for a remake.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar WarGames, but this reboot sounds pretty intriguing. Four Christmases was God awful, so I hope that Seth Gordon will be able to pull this remake off.

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