Annie (2014)

[Walts Ghost]

Will Smith Teaming Up With Jay Z to Remake 'Annie' With Daughter Willow Smith in Lead

Late last week we heard that Will Smith might be developing a remake of Annie at Columbia/Sony, the idea being to create a star vehicle for his daughter Willow Smith. At the time there was a rumor that Jay-Z would be involved with the music for the film, just as he was in the production of Willow Smith’s hit single ‘Whip My Hair.’ Now Mr. Smith’s company has officially announced the remake and partnership with Jay-Z.

This is the first development from a partnership between Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment and Jay-Z, with the intent “to develop and produce major motion pictures.” Plural. All involved have already worked on the hit Broadway musical Fela!, and there’s the previously mentioned business arrangement between Willow Smith and Jay-Z’s label. So is this the second step in creating a Smith Family entertainment juggernaut, where the first step was the remake of The Karate Kid? Looks like it.

Here are the important bits from the press release, where Columbia Pictures president Doug Belgrad says,

We don’t know more — this seems like it is still pretty early, but I’d be surprised if it stalled out before going into production. We still don’t know much about the degree to which the material from the Broadway musical (music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin and a book by Thomas Meehan) which led to the John Huston movie will be changed for this version. Expect at least some revamping and/or modernization.

Source

[EricJ]

In other news, Will plans to change his name to "Christopher Culkin"...

(Sheesh, Will, why not plaster a "Ask Me About My Grandkids" bumpersticker on your hinder?--Enough with the freakin' birthday-party home movies!!!)

We still don’t know much about the degree to which the material from the Broadway musical (music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin and a book by Thomas Meehan) which led to the John Huston movie will be changed for this version.

And yes, the 80's John Huston version went wrong in so many ways from the stage original, but at least they fixed most of the mistakes for the 90's Disney made-for-TV version...End of story. It's been done. Go home, Daddy-Will.

[Walts Ghost]

I'm just shocked at home many remakes have been announced in the last week....It's a little shocking, and unnerving. Hollywood needs to step up their game and stop with the ramakes

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Originally Posted by pj_campbell

I'm just shocked at home many remakes have been announced in the last week....It's a little shocking, and unnerving. Hollywood needs to step up their game and stop with the ramakes

Hollywood has been tapped dry. Only a few new ideas by brave filmmakers like Nolan who are willing to try something new.

[Samus Aran]

So when is Will going to announce that he and Jada are going to star in the Casablanca remake?

[Rblu-Dblu]

Originally Posted by Samus Aran

So when is Will going to announce that he and Jada are going to star in the Casablanca remake?

I don't know, but someone needs to stop this family before they remake every movie ever made.

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by Rblu-Dblu

I don't know, but someone needs to stop this family before they remake every movie ever made.

Agreed. Its borderlining ridiculous right now...

[Samus Aran]

Originally Posted by Rblu-Dblu

I don't know, but someone needs to stop this family before they remake every movie ever made.

Maybe someone should remake Wild Wild West and Hancock so that they don't suck.

[Rblu-Dblu]

Originally Posted by Samus Aran

Maybe someone should remake Wild Wild West and Hancock so that they don't suck.

Wild Wild West was a remake from the old tv show and Hancock, well there is just no hope.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by Samus Aran

Maybe someone should remake Wild Wild West and Hancock so that they don't suck.

Aouch!!!


Maybe he will decide to make a reboot of Bonaza with his family next?

Seriously I don't really care how many remakes they make, if they are bad (and most recent remakes have been rather bad) I can ignore it and continue with my life, it's really not a big deal.

[Crimson King]

Not mention that Will wants to be the next James Bond, at least that's the rumor!

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Originally Posted by BillyJack

Not mention that Will wants to be the next James Bond, at least that's the rumor!

[Crimson King]

Originally Posted by BillyJack

Not mention that Will wants to be the next James Bond, at least that's the rumor!

there was a thread about it "here" but for some reason it was "locked" by the mods.

[SixSpeedSamurai]

Originally Posted by Samus Aran

Maybe someone should remake Wild Wild West and Hancock so that they don't suck.

That made my day

In a few more years when he's old enough, the son can remake The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

[Crimson King]

Just imagine hip-hop versions of "Tomorrow" and "It's A Hard Knock Life", that's more than scarry!

[Batman1980]

I'm on board with this even if it sucks because it will introduce the movie to a whole new generation and probably means the original will finally come out on blu-ray.

[ZoetMB]

You guys really seem to not like Will Smith. The original Annie was a pretty bad movie -- there was at least one major critic who said, "if you want to punish your kids for the holidays, take them to this movie."

But I could see a complete reimagining of "Annie" with totally new music to be something that might work. If it was just some rapper, I wouldn't think much of it, but with the talent from Fela involved, it could be quite good. Just as long as it's not the equivalent of "The Wiz".

While I haven't liked some of the films Smith has been in, I have liked Smith's performance in those films. And I happened to of loved Hancock -- I thought it was a really interesting take on superhero mythology. Generally, Smith comes across as immensely likable. I thought he was quite good in Six Degrees of Separation, Ali, Enemy of the State, Hancock, MIB and I Am Legend. There's a sense of decency in most of his characters that is rare on the screen today.

And with a choice of Bond between Smith and Daniel Craig, I'd pick Craig. But if Craig left the series, I could see Smith making an okay Bond, if he could do a believable accent. I do not want to see an "American" Bond. If that's what Smith is thinking, he should just find a good story where he can play a spy.

[Moefiz]

Its official...Hollywood is out of ideals and they turned to Will Smith for help

[Samus Aran]

Remember when Paramount announced they wanted to make sequels to every possible title in their library imaginable (probably straight-to-DVD, completely unrelated to the original movie and likely without any actors from the first movie) -- everything from Days of Thunder, The Naked Gun and Clueless to Ghost, Event Horizon, Deep Impact and Collateral. I wonder what happened to that idea?

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by BillyJack

Just imagine hip-hop versions of "Tomorrow" and "It's A Hard Knock Life", that's more than scarry!

It certainly was:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekomM8aobQo

(Yes, Jay-Z was doing pretentious off-topic race-martyr rap appropriations of white-people's songs long BEFORE Kanye West...)