There's no denying that remakes are huge. Love them or hate them, the idea of recycling old ideas for new movies is nothing new to Hollywood - and, considering that movies are still being remade, one has to assume that they work more often than they fail.
While it's easy to write off flops like Point Break or Psycho, it's important to remember that there are plenty of remakes that were better than the original. Scarface, The Thing, Ocean's Eleven - all of these movies have become classics, despite the fact that they're remakes...and a lot of that has to do with who's directing the project.
That's why, when 20th Century Fox revealed that it was remaking the 1966 sci-fi cult classic Fantastic Voyage, some people wrote it off as Hollywood running out of ideas. However, thanks to The Hollywood Reporter, we now know that Guillmero del Toro himself is in talks to develop and direct the film - which, let's be honest, makes the whole project a lot more enticing...
For those who haven't seen the original, Fantastic Voyage was a science fiction film released in 1966, and told the story of a doctor shrinking down and traveling inside his patient in order to fix a blood clot in his brain. If that sounds familiar, it's because Fantastic Voyage has been parodied dozens of times - if any character on any show ever shrinks in size, expect someone to make a Fantastic Voyage reference.
And, while it's still easy to write the whole thing off, Guillmero del Toro has proven time and time again that he can take a well-known character or concept - for instance, the satyr Pan - and twist it into something unique. If it were just about any other director, movie-goers would probably expect another CG-laden action film with zero actual character - but with del Toro at the helm, the Fantastic Voyage remake could be something different.
As an added bonus, the Fantastic Voyage remake would reunite del Toro with some longtime production partners: not only is the remake being produced by James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment, but Batman v. Superman writer David Goyer is attached to the script. It's still too early to say anything for certain, but Fantastic Voyage could turn into a del Toro dream-team.
Granted, nothing's been confirmed quite yet - just because del Toro is in talks doesn't mean he'll end up working on the project. However, with Pacific Rim 2 on indefinite hiatus and Crimson Peak finishing its run in theaters, it's easy to think that the director has some free time on his hands...
Regardless of whether or not Guillermo del Toro ends up directing it, expect to hear more about the Fantastic Voyage remake sometime in the near future.
