Studios have become savvy to the fact that it’s just as profitable to go back as it is to go forward, and it appears the boys at Strike Entertainment—the same company that brought us the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake, SLiTHER, and the forthcoming historical epic 300—feel this is the key ingredient to bring THE THING back to the big screen. Fango has learned that Strike is combing Hollywood for a writer (or writers) to tackle a THING prequel. Since the production house works solely with Universal, which gave us John Carpenter’s classic 1982 THING remake, this is understandable.
The gestation period on a new THING has been a long one. Since Carpenter’s film—starring Kurt Russell, a bevy of amazing character actors and the timeless, inimitable special FX of Rob Bottin—overcame initial critical and public derision to become a modern classic, Universal has pondered just what to do with a property that is ripe for follow-up status. Many have stepped in to lend their two cents, beginning with Dark Horse Comics, which created a miniseries back in the early ’90s that was the next best thing to getting a full-blown cinematic continuation. Then George Clooney flirted with the idea of bringing the original story, “Who Goes There?” (by John W. Campbell), to the small screen in a project similar to the black-and-white FAIL SAFE he executive-produced; then the THING video game came along; then Frank Darabont was attached to a Sci-Fi Channel original movie. Time will tell if the prequel’s birth will come anytime soon; we’ll keep you updated.
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