Another day, another remake.
Eon Productions are in development with Amazon MGM Studios on a reimagined film adaptation of 1968’s “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”
The beloved film, starring Dick Van Dyke, was written by Bond author Ian Fleming in the mid-1960s, and later adapted into a screenplay by Roald Dahl, Ken Hughes with Richard Maibaum.
Over the past few years, Hollywood has greenlit remakes of “Vertigo,” “High & Low,” “The Conversation,” “Night of the Hunter,” “Possession,” “Wages of Fear,” “Wizard of Oz,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “The Birds,” “Escape From New York,” “Highlander,” “Naked Gun” “Working Girl,” and “Body Heat.” It’s only a matter of time before “Citizen Kane” is announced as their next victim.
Sequels, reboots, and remakes — that’s the only thing Hollywood seems to be doing. There’s isn’t a cell of originality left in studio execs’ brains.
The most frustrating part is that there are so many great scripts out there waiting to be made. Hell, studios could just take a look at the just-released black list if they want to be inspired. Why not give new and original stories a try? It’s worth a shot.