When Disney finally completed their takeover of Fox, the Mouse House inherited a huge amount of high-profile properties, but given their established brand reputation, it seemed difficult to imagine the family-friendly multimedia empire taking a chance and rebooting R-rated franchises like Die Hard, Predator and Alien.
Longtime fans would no doubt balk at the idea of Disney tackling brands that had always been adult orientated, but the studio may have found a loophole through the rebranded 20th Century Studios. While the Walt Disney Pictures division will always be associated with the standard fare that saw the company ascend to the very top of the industry, an offshoot presents the ideal opportunity for them to diversify their output and venture into previously uncharted territory.
The latest unexpected title to be getting the Disney treatment is The Omen, the classic horror series that began in 1976 and spawned three sequels, a remake and a TV show that was canceled after one season. Another new big screen version of the story was first announced four years ago, but very little has been heard about the project since.
However, siblings and regular horror scribes Carey and Chad Hayes revealed in a recent interview that they had written the latest draft of the script for the prequel, and that the project is set to be head into production in the not too distant future.
“We did the prequel to The Omen, which is also sitting over at Fox, that, rumor has it, that it is going into production. So we’ll see what happens. We get to tell you where Damien came from. It was really fun.”
Every horror brand eventually ends up taking the prequel route, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that The Omen will be following suit, although it is unexpected that an R-rated horror set up at Disney looks to be getting fast tracked into production under the 20th Century Studios banner. As always, though, watch this space for more.
