Back in September, we reported that Steven Spielberg would most likely be setting up a new distribution deal with Universal once once he was done with The BFG (which will be distributed by Disney). That’s some boring industry stuff, but there is a chance that a deal like that would open the door for Spielberg to remake/reboot some of the films he made under Universal back in the day. Now, Spielberg and some other movie people have officially formed Amblin Partners, a new Voltron-like studio that combines Amblin, DreamWorks, and Participant Media under the Universal brand.
Deadline has a big article on this deal and an interview with Spielberg about it, but—once again—it’s mostly just boring industry stuff. At the end of the interview, though, Deadline asked Spielberg if he’d be interested in remaking/rebooting any Amblin movies—like, say, Jaws—now that he’s back at Universal, and Spielberg responded, “I would never remake one of my own movies.” That’s certainly a good sign, but he then added that “there are Amblin titles in the library that could inspire new stories that were made popular by the films,” indicating that he does plan to consider looking back at some of the movies his studio worked on in the past, just not the ones he made.
That raises the question of which non-Spielberg movies made by Amblin and distributed by Universal actually deserve a remake or reboot. The Flintstones In Viva Rock Vegas? Casper? Harry And The Hendersons? Or, better yet, how about none of those?