In the last week or so, there’ve been whispers of a project on tracking boards and in the likes of Production Weekly: a potential remake of Irwin Allen‘s 1978 disaster movie “The Swarm.” Featuring an all-star cast including the likes of Michael Caine, Katharine Ross, Richard Chamberlain, Olivia de Havilland, Patty Duke, Slim Pickens, Fred MacMurray and Henry Fonda battling killer bees in Texas, the film was a notorious flop, being pulled from theaters after two weeks, while Caine calls it the worst film of his career (no mean feat, considering some of his 70s/80s fare).
Nevertheless, The Wrap, refusing to mind their beeswax, confirmed the buzz, learning that the remake is indeed in development, and will be produced by Roy Lee (“The Ring“) and Steven Schneider (“Paranormal Experiment,” “Insidious“), through their Vertigo Entertainment and Room 101 banners.
No writer has yet bee-n hired, but New Zealand commercials director Ash Bolland has been hired in the director’s chair. If we were take a poll(en) of staff here, we can’t imagine anyone would be too excited about this one, but at the same time, it could be argued that this is the kind of remake that should be made — a film so totally botched the first time that no one involved will get it in the neck(tar). And we’re officially out of bee-related puns…
At the same time, we imagine this’ll be turned into some 3D quickie full of disposable CW teen stars, so while it might not be as flat-out terrible as the original, it’s unlikely to be much more worthwhile, particularly as it’s unlikely to include one of the few highlights of that film: Jerry Goldsmith‘s excellent score, as heard below.
Jerry Goldsmith “The Swarm”
