Reboot comic-book movies and everything else!

REBOOT COMIC BOOK MOVIES

By Jerry Saravia

Comic-book movies are getting reboots faster than before anyone can say, "Wolverine: The Pre-School Years." Not just comic-books either but other genre offerings such as "Star Trek." Let's consider the recent and future examples.

"Fantastic Four" first came into being as a Roger Corman production back in 1994. Unseen by me, I wouldn't mind seeing it for fun, even if it is considered to be laughable by those who have seen it. Then it came back in 2005 as a big-screen adventure with Jessica Alba as the Invisible Girl, Chris Evans (currently courting the lead in "Captain America") as the Human Torch and Michael Chiklis as The Thing, the latter two coming off best. The film was uninspired and far too silly, and there was a sequel two years later. Now no more than four years have passed and guess what! There is a reboot of "Fantastic Four" already in the works for a possible 2013 release with Adrien Brody rumored to be appearing and Bruce Willis doing the voice of an all CGI-created The Thing!

Speaking of reboots, there is a "Spider-Man" reboot and an X-Men reboot! Huh? I'll omit any further discussion on X-Men, but Spider-Man? Now I have seen Spidey's third screen adventure (not bad overall) and the first two are good enough and I don't see anyone filling Tobey Maguire's shoes so snugly. So much for Sam Raimi's "Spider Man 4" that got shelved! Unbelievable! Shelved because the franchise was making too much money for the studios, or does Marvel want to do things its own way, hence the horrible "Incredible Hulk" film with Edward Norton? Possibly but unless the audience has amnesia, Tobey Maguire fit the part of Peter Parker and the masked crime-fighter beautifully. They could have had their trilogy alone and left it well enough alone, but now there is a young actor named Andrew Garfield filling in for Spidey's web-slinging costume. Why? Why? Money, of course. But does money also dictate making foolish decisions such as the possibility of Mary Jane not returning. Huh? Lindsay Lohan has expressed interest in playing Mary Jane but if there is no role... Now we had to contend, us older folks, with the dull live-action TV series from the late 70's starring a Spider-Man that wore goggles yet hardly spun his web all that much, and never fought the supervillains we all know and love. At least the 60's animated adventures were more thrilling but all was well when Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi joined forces and restored some respect for the web-slinger. But now?

With all these reboots, some that have been phenomenally successful like 2009's "Star Trek," one wonders why the need, outside of greed, to consistently change and restabilize these franchises. "Star Trek" in particular has always been about William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, not to mention the rest of the cast that have all been iconized. But why couldn't the studio consider a new chapter in the "Star Trek" series with the "Next Generation" cast? Probably a new sequel might have fared better nowadays in the audiences's insatiable need for escapism than in 2002's "Nemesis" that was the weakest entry in terms of box-office dollars. Had the recent rebooted, retrofitted "Star Trek" film not been successful, there probably would be a moratorium on reboots in general. As I said, money talks.

Here are some new reboot suggestions for Hollywood execs. Maybe you can cast Nathan Fillion as Indiana Jones and Linda Cardellini as Marion Ravenwood and make 1930's adventure movies, just like fans want it, instead of the 1950's setting with the future septuagenarian Harrison Ford. Or Hollywood can remake "Star Wars" and get Tobey Maguire to play Luke and Jack Nicholson to do the voice of Darth Vader! Or let's do "Iron Man" all over again and cast Jared Leto as a gloomier version of the Robert Downey, Jr. role, Tony Stark, and let Darren Aronosfky direct it!   Or reboot "Batman" all over again with Justin Bieber as a young Bruce Wayne! These shouldn't sound like good ideas and they are not for good reason - they couldn't possibly work but Hollywood keeps recycling anyway.