Now, I'm not a knee-jerk anti-remake guy but, really, this is a bad idea. I'm of the general feeling that John Carpenter movies are very much products of their time and They Live is a prime example of that, a film that worked when it was made but would be hard to imagine working now. If it had been done while Bush was still in power at least the politics would still match up but starting into this now is going to require so much revision that you'll lose all of the stuff that makes the original a cult classic.
If you must do Carpenter - and, yes, I know I'm in the minority here - I'm actually not bothered by the proposed The Thing remake nor by the idea of redoing Escape From New York - though I suspect the failure of Doomsday will quash that - but a They Live remake is just a failure waiting to happen ...
I bought http://www.stopremakingfilms.com in an IMPULSE purchase shortly after reading the news about Oldboy being remade.
Thing is, I really can't be bothered to do anything about it now that I have an unused forum in it and all that jazz. Damn remakes. Wish they'd stop.
I will only see this remake if Will Smith's son gets to play the starring role.
I could live with The Thing, especially since it was a remake itself. Though you'd have to wonder how many times they could remake something before it would be too much even for Hollywood.
My guess is it would take awhile.
Remake the thing? And cgi Bowtin's unmatchable fx? Sorry. Don't touch that film.
Regardless if it's based of of a remake of a remake. Oh and whoever would be into a "re-imaging" of "They Live" should not be allowed to be one of the ones that do live. Pissed.
And the obessesive fan boys who covet their silly B-movies with violent anger chime in.
I'm actually reasonably OK on a THEY LIVE remake. The overall concept is so simple, my advice to whomever tries to pull this of: Push out the political/social-commentary angle to reflect 2008, not 1988. I think this could work out reasonably well, and I'm usually against remakes.
That being said. You'd be hard-pressed to match the goofy-fun that is the first one. It really is a schizophrenic film considering the movies themes and then its execution. And for that. I love it to death.
Furthermore, my 2005 (2007 release) remake of THEY LIVE has already come out, and it even stars and Ex-Pro Wrestler in the lead. That would be Richard Kelley's SOUTHLAND TALES. I think it is kinda going after things in a same b-movie, social commentary way and is schizophrenic as hell to boot.
ChevalierAguila, I agree on that point too. Unfortunately, most of the new stuff has been crap lately too, but I'd take new crap over recycled crap almost any day. This is one of the movies I'd be willing to make an exception for if done well, though, because I do see the potential. For all the Halloweens and I Am Legends out there, there are still a few The Flys and The Things.
The extremely short number of good remakes versus the bad ones is also enough to be anything but excited about future remakes. These are quick cash for lazy big studios, who just want to take stuff that had sucess in the past, or another country, instead of taking the risk of supporting new stories. "But they can be crap too!" then it might as well be no more movies been made ever anywhere in the world, because you know....they could all be crap for that matter. Seriously, that's a very silly logic.
Then again, i hardly watch hollywood movies these days.