MGM and Warner Brothers are going back to the well, err...gate. The companies are in talks to reboot their successful Stargate series into a new trilogy of films to be produced by the original team of Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. Emmerich, who directed the original film starring Kurt Russell and James Spader in 1994 (twenty years ago!), is on board to direct the upcoming reboot.
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The original film focused on a group of scientists and marines who travel through an unearthed 'Stargate', a portal to another world, who come into conflict against an ancient alien being who was responsible for the Egyptian empire. The original captured the imagination of kids (certainly me, I mean, who else could build the pyramids? Oh right, this guy.) as well as the box office, grossing over $200 million at the box office. Sequels were rumored for a while afterwards, but all future film versions were DOA.
Stargate found new life on television, where several series and spinoffs were created, including Stargate: SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe. The entire television franchise, originally beginning on Showtime and ending on SciFi (now SyFy) ran for a total of 17 seasons. Needless to say, Stargate is still a massively popular franchise.
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Directors returning to a franchise they created is nothing new. Now creating something worthwhile...that's something else entirely. See Crystal Skull by Spielberg and of course, Prometheus from Ridley Scott. Hopefully Emmerich and Devlin can create something special with two decades of hindsight behind them.
One hopes that they also bring back the original film's theme, which to this day remains such a great piece of triumphant wonder. Listen below!
