Highlander (2010)

revealed that Summit Entertainment is bringing Highlander back to the big screen. The 1986 sci-fi cult hit starred Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery and Clancy Brown as immortal beings who battled humans and each other. Lambert played Scottish swordsman Connor MacLeod, Connery portrayed the memorable Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez and Clancy was a barbarian known as the Kurgan. The film with the "There can be only one" tagline spawned four sequels and three television series.

There are those of us who think reboots of properties like Highlander, Flash Gordon and Poltergeist are completely unwanted and unnecessary. Yet there are others. The type of Joe's who couldn't get enough of Sci-Fi Channel's Highlander: The Source last year. This is the spoiler page for those Joe's.

While, admittedly, there aren't many actual "spoilers" ahead - stay tuned for updates as Highlander: The Remake inches closer to production in the coming weeks.

Confirmed:

* The remake was officially announced on May 20, 2008.

* The script will be written by the writers of Iron Man (Art Marcum and Matt Holloway).

* One source tells Entertainment Weekly that Highlander doesn't preclude Marcum and Holloway from working on an Iron Man sequel, but no deal is in place yet for that project for the writers and looks unlikely now that Justin Theroux has been announced for that gig. (EW.com)

* No director is yet attached.

* Peter Davis, one of the original producers, says the new Highlander will not just be a remake. It will incorporate more backstory elements and prequel aspects that will be fleshed out to expand the storyline in a way that is inventive yet faithful to the original story, he says. (Reuters)

* Davis has been quoted as saying: "I would hate to think that people viewed Highlander as a sword fighting movie because it's much more than that. The issues of an immortal falling in love with a woman and knowing she's going to grow old and die in your arms, those are very romantic issues to deal with." (Reuters)

* The project's new producers are promising a more "romantic" Highlander film. (The Hollywood Reporter)

* The screenplay will involve a sub-plot dealing with Connor MacLeod's love for a non-immortal woman. (The Hollywood Reporter)

* The producers have previously mentioned they would include medieval Scotland in their version of the story. (The Hollywood Reporter)

* Director Alex Proyas, who is not involved with the production, has been quoted raving about the studio behind the Highlander reboot and this year's TWILIGHT adaptation: "Summit, who I think are going to be a highly regarded genre studio, because they really respect genre movies and they have given me an immense freedom and at the same time an extraordinary support, so that has really reignited my belief in that there are good guys out there that you can actually work with as a filmmaker. " (Highlander Remake Boards)

Kevin McKidd
* Scottish actor Kevin McKidd (HBO's "Rome," "Journeyman," "Made of Honor") confirmed in a Dublin radio interview that he's been approached about starring in the Highlander remake. (JoBlo)

* Unfortunately, no word yet on a cameo from the original Highlander, Christopher Lambert.

Rumored:

* McKidd was reportedly a favorite to play THOR before director Matthew Vaughn exited the project. (JoBlo)

* The character of Methos is well known and rumors have circulated that the new movie may focus more on that character and less about Connor or Duncan MacLeod. (Highlander Remake Boards)

Got any others? Add it to the comments section below. Think these spoilers suck? Sound off and share your thoughts. Updates will be added to this page as more information becomes known. HIGHLANDER is scheduled for release in 2010.

UGO

The Neverending Story (2011)

The new movie will put a modern spin on the material by examining the more nuanced details of the book that were glossed over in the first feature.


The Kennedy/Marshall Co., whose credits include "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," and Leonard DiCaprio's Appian Way are in discussions with Warners about reviving the 25-year-old franchise. The studio recently acquired rights to the property, clearing the way for a potential remake.

Based on a German-language novel by Michael Ende, the film centers on a boy named Bastian Balthazar Bux who discovers a parallel world in a book titled "The NeverEnding Story." As the boy, a loner, delves deeper into the book, he increasingly finds his life intertwined with the plot of the novel, in which a hero in the land of Fantasia must save the universe on behalf of an empress.

Wolfgang Petersen directed the 1984 film, which earned a respectable $20 million for Warners. The film has had a long life on home video and an even larger influence on popular culture, prefiguring the Harry Potter stories and other children's fantasies.

A sequel directed by George Miller came out in 1990 and earned $17 million; a third movie followed in the U.S. in 1996 but quickly went to video.

"NeverEnding" came out long before the fantasy genre was seen as a springboard for a Hollywood blockbuster, and Warners is said to see a new opportunity in the first-generation children's fantasy.

Source: Reuters