Roland Emmerich has had chances at a couple of great films, but The Patriot remains my favorite from the German born writer/director. Independence Day was a mess when you look at it and forget about special effects, Godzilla was terrible in every way and The Day After Tomorrow couldn’t do anything more than destroy the HOLLYWOOD sign. Based on the trailer for 10,000 B.C. I have no faith in that flick’s quality either and it’s March 7 release tells me Warner’s is hoping the time frame has some kind of luck associated with it after 300 or they just want to bury it before the summertime.
All of those movies aside Emmerich is not going to stop making movies and it looks like he has his special effects wand aimed at a remake of the 1966 pic Fantastic Voyage for 20th Century Fox the studio that distributed both Independence Day and Day After Tomorrow, two films that despite being shitty did manage a pretty penny for the studio as they totalled almost $400 million domestically.
The original Fantastic Voyage starred Raquel Welch and Donald Pleasence and told the story of a brilliant scientist who falls into a coma with an inoperable blood clot in the brain. A surgical team embarks on a top-secret journey to the center of the mind in a high-tech military submarine shrunk to microbial dimensions. The original is set to be re-released on special edition DVD on June 5.
Emmerich was attached to direct the film 10 years ago but it fell through, the new script pitch by National Treasure scribes Marianne and Cormac Wibberley renewed his interest.
The Wibberleys are part of a new script venture at Fox dubbed the Writing Partners in which scribes bring original spec scripts to the studio in exchange for gross participation if the pics get made. The writers will also take small upfront payments and will get only their usual fees on films that go into production, will also be guaranteed input as producers and protection from being rewritten without their permission.
Along with the Wibberleys, the group also contains Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Caribbean, Shrek); Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine); John August (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory); Stuart Beattie (Collateral); Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (3:10 to Yuma); Tim Herlihy (The Wedding Singer); Simon Kinberg (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, X-Men: The Last Stand) and Craig Mazin (Scary Movie 3 and 4). Unfortunately Fantastic Voyage is an adaptation and doesn’t count.
For more on the Writing Partners venture read this Variety article. The deal requires that each scribe or team generate at least one spec within four years.
