Hollywood Remake Wagon Rolls On

blog_harveyThe announcement that the next picture from Steven Spielberg will be a remake of the 1950 film Harvey, which starred James Stewart (pictured here), has roused us to round up some notes on remakes and franchise reboots that reveal an idea drain in the Hollywood dream factory: today the Los Angeles Times reports on how Paramount Pictures, the studio releasing GI Joe, is “sidestepping the traditional Hollywood showcase” in favor of “taking the picture directly to America’s heartland” and arranging screenings on military bases; last week it was announced that Ridley Scott will direct a prequel to Alien, a film that has already spawned five wildly divergent rebrandings; and just when it seemed like the real canary in the coalmine was the fact that even the board game Candy Land was getting the big-screen treatment (rivaled only by news that a movie based on the 1979 Atari game Asteroids will be coming to a theater a near you), now comes the ultimate cry for help: Warner Bros has announced a remake of the 1935 film Captain Blood, only the Errol Flynn swashbuckling movie will not be set on a pirate ship, but in outer space.