Warner Bros. is still developing a remake of its 1976 movie Logan’s Run after initial reports announcing the project surfaced back in 2011. At that point in the early development stages, the white-hot duo of director Nicolas Winding Refn and leading man Ryan Gosling stirred up plenty of interest in the remake. And for a while, their attachment kept it buoyant, as scripts were rustled up and financiers gathered. But sometimes enough’s enough for Hollywood’s heavy-hitters, and in later 2012, Gosling and Refn exited.
Word on the project now hails from The Tracking Board, who claims to have intel suggesting that the studio are hoping for a fresh take on the sci-fi classic. To catch you up, the original novel and movie revolved around a young man living in a futuristic world dogged by the amount of resources humans consume. In an effort to reduce the level of consumption, upon reaching their 30th birthday residents are invited to “carousel” – which is a pleasant-sounding method of rounding up people for slaughter to lessen their footprint. Michael York starred in the original as Logan, a 29-year old who rallies against the mythical bunkum that everyone is fed.
If this latest report is correct, the new version will have a female in the leading role. Citing box office successes like The Hunger Games and Paul Feig’s upcoming Ghostbusters reboot, the site suggests this move is an effort to capitalize on that type of female-led franchise gold. As ideas go, it’s a sterling one to contemplate, especially as the underlying message of Logan’s Run continues to ring true today.
However, the project has stagnated for well over two years now. The last word on the remake prior to today’s scoop came with the news that BioShock creator Ken Levine had been hired to pen the script. An official announcement from Warner would be most welcome, if only to confirm the film’s existence. Until that arrives, though, we’d recommend filing this one away as a rumor.