20 Movies You Didn’t Know Were Being Rebooted

With July alone seeing the release of numerous remakes and reboots like Ghostbusters, The Legend of Tarzan and The BFG, it seems that Hollywood is endlessly plundering the treasures of its past instead of creating new properties. Great movies can come from rebooting an old classic, of course – beloved western The Magnificent Seven was based on Japanese masterpiece Seven Samurai, after all. However, when that film itself is remade – a new The Magnificent Seven, starring Chris Pratt and Denzel Washington, is due out later this year – it’s hard not to get cynical. But just what other movie reboots are being planned? Well, some of those you hear about are just scraps of hearsay or only in the earliest of stages, but many remakes are coming to a cinema near you whether you like it or not. Here, for your perusal, are 20 movies you probably didn’t realize were being remade. Either that, or you deliberately tried to forget about them. The Rocketeer The latest remake to be announced is this belated follow-up to Disney’s 1991 superhero movie The Rocketeer, which has since garnered a cult fanbase for its old Hollywood stylings. The new movie, titled The Rocketeers, will feature a black female lead who inherits the jetpack from the original movie’s hero. It's written by Matt Spicer and Max Winkler (yes, he's the son of Henry “Fonzie” Winkler). Ocean’s Eleven In the wake of the rebooted Ghostbusters franchise, another all-male team-up movie is to be remade with a female-centric cast. A retooling of 2001’s Ocean Eleven (which was itself a remake of the 1960 original), Ocean’s Eight will feature Sandra Bullock as Danny Ocean’s sister, who similarly puts together a team of expert criminals (and famous faces). Confirmed to be joining Bullock are Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling and Elizabeth Banks. Nosferatu The 1922 silent horror classic Nosferatu has already been remade several times over the decades. Nonetheless. a new take on the material is on the way this very year. Monster actor extraordinaire Doug Jones (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is leading a cast that includes Joely Fisher, Sarah Carter and Jack Turner, with David Lee Fisher directing. Expect this one to arrive in cinemas on – naturally – Halloween 2016. Zorro If a remake has got to happen, you want it to bring something new to the table. Well, the minds behind this take on the classic masked hero are certainly planning on that. Rather than the 19th century setting of 1998’s The Mask of Zorro, this movie - titled Zorro Reborn - will take place in a post-apocalyptic future. Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal is the favourite to don Zorro's domino mask. Or futuristic visor of some kind. Whatever. Jumanji Despite many fans decreeing it to be an insult to the memory of the original movie’s star Robin Williams, this Jumanji reboot is still very much in the game. Star Dwayne Johnson has said that the movie will honour William's character Alan Parrish. Apart from Johnson, the reimagining’s eclectic cast includes Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Nick Jonas. It will be directed by Bad Teacher’s Jake Kasdan and is currently pencilled in for a July 2017 release. The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Apparently not put off by the complete and utter failure of the original LoEG movie (its disastrous production is responsible for both director Stephen Norrington and star Sean Connery quitting the business), a new adaptation of Alan Moore’s Victorian Avengers comic book is in the works. Not much is known about it yet, but producer John Davis has assured that it will be a lot more “female centric” than the first film. The Naked Gun After starring in the (flop) National Lampoon remake Vacation, Ed Helms is attached to lead this reboot/spinoff of the beloved Leslie Nielsen cop spoof. The actor is set to play a relative of the intrepid yet incompetent Lt. Frank Drebin of Police Squad, while Night at the Museum’s Thomas Lennon and R. Ben Garant have written the screenplay. Recently, however, Helms admitted that this one is stuck in development hell, so it might not happen after all. Fingers crossed, everyone! Memento Some brave soul will have to redo Christopher Nolan’s modern classic Memento, if the touted reboot of the 2000 memory-themed thriller comes to pass. The impetus for this comes from AMBI Pictures recently acquiring the rights to Exclusive Media Group’s film library. Other remakes of not-that-old movies under consideration include Donnie Darko and Sliding Doors. Yay? Akira With the controversial Ghost in the Shell reboot starring Scarlett Johansson arriving in 2017, the long-gestating live-action remake of acclaimed cyberpunk anime Akira is now accelerating forward. Daredevil showrunner Marco Ramirez is attached to provide the script. Apparently Mad Max's George Miller was in talks to direct at one point, but now the frontrunner for the job is Star Trek Beyond helmer Justin Lin. Stargate After directing the 1994 movie that spawned a sprawling franchise of sequels and various TV series, Roland Emmerich is returning to the Stargate world to reboot his own film. Apparently, Emmerich and writer/producer Dean Devlin always intended to do a trilogy. The only reason they are redoing the first film is so that they can, at long last, complete their original vision. Let's hope it's more successful than Independence Day: Resurgence. The Birds Who should you get to do a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s masterfully suspenseful yet understated thriller? Why, Michael Bay, of course. Yup, in a mind-boggling move, the Transformer director is taking a break from messing with your 80s favourites to produce this remake (though Dutch filmmaker Diederick Van Rooijen will actually helm the movie). If this one does manage to take flight, expect killer birds that explode and Megan Fox in the lead. Don’t Look Now Clearly some Hollywood exec is currently watching old movies based on the works of British author Daphne Du Maurier. 1973’s Don’t Look Now from visionary director Nicholas Roeg is often considered a near-peerless piece of horror filmmaking – but that hasn’t prevented it from getting a remake. Not much is known about it yet, but original star Donald Sutherland has already called the very idea of it “shameful.” We hear you, Donald. Flash Gordon Flash "ah-ahh!" Gordon, the saviour of the universe most known from the campy Queen-scored 1980s movie, looks to be on his way back to cinemas soon. Patrick McKay and JD Payne (who wrote a first draft of Star Trek Beyond) are on scriptwriting duties, though a director has yet to be found. Kingsman’s Matthew Vaughn was apparently being courted, but he does have several films on his slate already, so we wouldn’t put much faith in that happening. Van Helsing The Hugh Jackman starring horror actioner Van Helsing is only 12 years old, but Universal are rebooting it to tie in with their classic monsters cinematic universe. Apparently, it will be inspired by Mad Max somehow. Other Universal monster remakes on the slate include The Mummy, The Invisible Man and The Bride of Frankenstein. Those movies have already nabbed Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Russell Crowe and Javier Bardem, so expect another big name here. Dumbo We haven’t heard anything about this for a year or so, but Disney’s Dumbo reboot is still a go. You may recall that master of the macabre Tim Burton is attached to direct this new version of the flying elephant, after he previously rebooted Alice in Wonderland for the Mouse House back in 2010. Even stranger is the appointment of Transformers' Ehren Krueger to write the screenplay. So should we be expecting a scary, action-heavy Dumbo? How The Grinch Stole Christmas Though Hollywood decided live-action Dr. Seuss adaptations were a bad idea after Mike Myer’s The Cat in the Hat back in 2003, that hasn’t stopped them making animated movies based on the works of the beloved children’s author. After Jim Carrey played the anti-Christmas sourpuss in 2000 (and Boris Karloff originated the role on TV), none other than Benedict Cumberbatch will voice the Grinch in a new movie due in 2018. A Nightmare On Elm Street Yes, Wes Craven’s Nightmare on Elm Street was already just rebooted in 2010, with Jackie Earle Haley filling Robert Englund's red and green sweater. After that one put people to sleep, however, New Line Cinema are planning a second remake to kickstart the franchise once again. A similar thing is happening with Friday the 13th, too. That was rebooted in 2009, but the series will be again reset with another remake coming next year. Scooby Doo Who needs another movie version of cowardly cartoon canine Scooby Doo? He’s been on TV for 50 years, after all. Surely there’s nothing new to see? Well, Warner Bros certainly disagrees, as a reimagining of the franchise will arrive in 2018 with the title S.C.O.O.B. The premise is that Scooby, Shaggy and the Mystery Inc. gang work for a bigger organization that investigate ghosts. It will also be animated, unlike the early 2000s movies. Men In Black Here come the Men in Black… again. After the Men in Black franchise crosses over with the 21 Jump Street series in MiB23 (no, really, that is a thing), Sony plans to restart the series without the involvement of Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones. The studio is thinking long term, as there are already talks of a new trilogy floating around. For casting, all we know is that they are aiming for at least one central female role. The Jungle Book What? Again? We literally just had a new Jungle Book this year?! Well, that’s the trouble with books that are in the public domain – anybody can make a movie version of them. Unrelated to Disney’s recent hit, Andy Serkis will direct (and star as Baloo) in this Warner Bros. take on Rudyard Kipley's classic. Originally, it went by the title of Jungle Book: Origins, but this has since been streamlined to just Jungle Book. Its cast does rival Disney’s, though, with Benedict Cumberbatch, Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale and Naomie Harris all set to star. It’s pencilled in for a 19th October 2018 release date.