The Thing, The Remake

The Thing (2011) will be storming theatres on April 29, 2011 announced today by distributor Universal Pictures. The science-fiction horror thriller is currently the only nationwide release scheduled for that weekend.

Described by Universal as a prelude to John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), the new Thing involves the discovery of an extraterrestrial organism and ship buried in Antarctica. I am very pleased to hear they aren’t going to try and remake it. The main character is a palaeontologist played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Final Destination 3). She and her scientific crew must fight for survival when the organism is unleashed, the creature will again be a shape-shifter that can replicate the humans, stirring paranoia as the characters get infected one-by-one.

The 1982 Thing posted relatively soft numbers back in the day, grossing $13.8 million and only ranking 56th for the year, but it has solidified itself as a cult classic. It was a remake itself of The Thing from Another World, the comparatively light-hearted Howard Hawks production from 1951. Both were based on the story “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell Jr.

The Thing is only the latest John Carpenter movie being revisited. Previous remakes of his movies include The Fog (2005) and Halloween (2007) and… a new Escape from New York is in the works, interesting!