ROTTEN TOMATOES: Total Recall Remake Coming? Comments

Total Recall Remake Coming?

by Jeff Giles | September 12, 2007

Summary

Honestly, there really are original ideas coming out of Hollywood. It's just that the studios seem to be doing their best to try and convince us otherwise. Back to Article

(1-49 of 49 posts) | Reply

barnaby Jones writes:
on Sep 12 2007 07:17 AM

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !

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moviefrk13 writes:
on Sep 12 2007 07:39 AM

They really should wait a few more decades before they remake some of these movies.

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Prosper761 writes:
on Sep 12 2007 07:52 AM

Until audioences become more demanding, the accountants now running Hollywood will continue to churn out remakes and sequels geared toward 16 year-olds who don't know any better. How sad.

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primetime21335 writes:
on Sep 12 2007 07:52 AM

Quite simply, Total Recall isn't Total Recall without Ahnold.

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jeremyd4 writes:
on Sep 12 2007 07:56 AM

I wouldn't mind seeing a movie set in the same universe as the Total Recall - but just not a remake. It was cool setting and the characters were fascinating (i.e. the girl with 3 boobs)...

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arpeggio191 writes:
on Sep 12 2007 08:00 AM

i don't know. i'm all for the remakes! In fact, there's this little known movie called Lord of the Rings, maybe a few of you have seen it. Anywoo, they should totally remake that. It's been a few years and really, we need to tell that story again. We could have Vigo play Gandolf or something.

seriously though... this is an f-ing terrible idea. (and remakes are generally stupid)

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harrismonkey writes:
on Sep 12 2007 08:07 AM

I know it will NEVER happen this way, but think about this.

Total Recall was actually written by David Cronenburg (that History of Violence/ Eastern Promises guy everybody is raving about at the moment). He was slated to direct, but had his name removed from the script (for reasons I'll get into) and left the project when Atnold was cast.

He wrote seven versions of the screenplay for this film. The one they went with was by far his least favorite. So his interest was already fading, and Arnold was the deal breaker for him.

I would be very interested in a remake that used one of the other scripts. I'd be even more interested in a remake helmed by Cronenburg himself.

It will never happen, but this film has always frustrated me because I have no doubt it would have been much better in his hands.

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Gimy writes:
on Sep 12 2007 08:33 AM

sequel...eh, ok. a REMAKE? why? just frikkin admit youre mooching off the idea...and make it different. don't try to rehash the SAME story. for some reason though, i see the rock as the lead and alba as the stone character. i'm NOT saying thats who should get it but...i could see them going that route. if it were my idea, i'd have Wee Man be the lead...Oprah play Sharon Stone's character...and Newman from Seinfeld be the big bad honcho, and topped off...by kevin federline as the guy who chases Wee Man. tell me that wouldn't be SO bad/funny...you'd want to at least rent it...

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witherwings writes:
on Sep 12 2007 08:54 AM

Has anyone read the book by Philip K. Dick?! IT IS AMAZING. I am all for a remake that is more faithful to that story. When I saw the movie, I was very disappointed.

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cristy2073 writes:
on Sep 12 2007 09:35 AM

In reply to this comment (#1118217)
I have seen remakes of alot of movies,and by all means they all suck.... I have not seen one movie remake that deserves an applause by me. So please, pretty PLEASE leave this one alone...

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jeremyd4 writes:
on Sep 12 2007 10:06 AM

Did Philip K. Dick's book have the 3 boobed lady?

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mbrocchi writes:
on Sep 12 2007 10:14 AM

Bring back the dude with the '12 kids to feed!'..

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BigPapaSmurf writes:
on Sep 12 2007 10:26 AM

I posted this earlier in the movie forum, it is an insult to mention PKD in the same sentence as Total Recall

Yeah I seriously doubt this is based on the short story, hell the first movie is hardly based on the short story...they dont even go to Mars in the book. P.S. I CANNOT RECCOMEND PKD's SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS ENOUGH, they will blow you away.

Short Story spoilers for 'We can remember it for you wholesale'

SPOILERS....SPOILERS, you were warned
In the book he returns to his apartment after the mishap at Rekal, only he finds two agents waiting for him there. At this point he remembers everything, including how easily he could disarm and kill these two agents. The agents who have a device which reads his mind, also realize at this point that he could easily kill them and they are scared ****less. Now they all realize that he is a hero to the org. and they dont want to kill him, so he suggests that they implant a new fantasy into his head which will satisfy his wish-fufillment, usurping his fantasy to return to Mars.

Down at Rekal they have a machine which can search the mind to determine his ultimate fantasy, they will give him trinkets which will coincide with the memories, so that when he wakes he will have proof that they really happened. The machine determines that his fantasy is this: When he was a boy a tiny spaceship landed in front of him and some tiny aliens got out, they came with the intention of destroying Earth, but they met Quaid who was so full of caring love for them that they decided not to destroy Earth until he died. They erased his memory and left.

The techies laugh at the extermely self-centered fantasy and proceed with the implanting, only to discover that his memory really had been erased and the aliens really were going to come back and destroy Earth when Quaid dies.
...
**** Quato and the three breasted whore.

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CitizenFlynn writes:
on Sep 12 2007 10:30 AM

Doant geeve zee peeple zair reemaik Cohaagen!

What, they can't update Red Heat instead?

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witherwings writes:
on Sep 12 2007 10:56 AM

In reply to this comment (#1118336)
I can't remember. There was a very quaint sense of humor in the movie, though, that was a little off from the book. It was like PKD's humor with a Arnold twist. Which, to me, wasn't funny. I found the movie to be a little distracting (as in I was distracted by elements in the movie I shouldn't have been distracted by).

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witherwings writes:
on Sep 12 2007 10:59 AM

In reply to this comment (#1118349)
PKD is a genius. I second that recommendation. Read his stuff, especially his short stories as he is best at original concepts. GENIUS.

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InfinityCorp writes:
on Sep 12 2007 11:03 AM

Ummm... WTF is going on. This is, again, a horrible idea.

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arendr writes:
on Sep 12 2007 11:09 AM

This is the weekly horrible remake idea thread. There seems to be one every week. Wait, get rid of "seems" because there is one every week.

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Canuck666 writes:
on Sep 12 2007 11:21 AM

I don't know why everyone is saying this will be a terrible idea. The first one was so horrible there is NO WAY the remake could be worse. The first one had dialogue so bad it seemed like it was written by an autistic kid on crack. My pick for the leads: Harrison Ford as Quaid, Megan Fox as Melina, Amy Smart as Lori and Bruce Willis as Richter.

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rt_hire_me writes:
on Sep 12 2007 11:38 AM

I liked watching Arnold pick his nose. I have wondered about that ending as well, whether astronauts would really have their eyes try to leave their skulls if they broke their helmets.

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postgray writes:
on Sep 12 2007 12:00 PM

Honestly, what's the big deal about remakes? It's not as if prior versions are erased from existence. Think about opera and theater. The pleasure of seeing la Boheme or Death of a Salesman over and over is to see how different teams of artists reinterpret a story. Is it really impossible to think someone couldn't make a better version of "Total Recall"?? The greatest danger of too many remakes is of course at the expense of new and original work. (In fact, this is probably the biggest problem that the opera and theater worlds face today. They are repertoiring themselves out of relevance.) And if you think that a remake can't be good check out Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The Fly (1986), A Star Is Born (1954), Ocean's Eleven (2001), and the current 3:10 to Yuma.

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eastern2western writes:
on Sep 12 2007 01:08 PM

Nowadays, it is very likely that movie is going to get a PG-13 because it is financially way too risky to make a big budget R-action movie any more. One good example is the latest die hard. What that means is that there is not going to be a chick with three boobs showing up in the remake.

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CodeClearanceBlue writes:
on Sep 12 2007 01:14 PM

Pathetic. I suppose they'll remake Men In Black next year.

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blank blank writes:
on Sep 12 2007 01:41 PM

i always enjoy watching total recall, in the its so bad its good vein. im sure it was an abomination to phil dick fans, but it was cheesy and funny as hell (although i dont think it meant to be). i wouldnt mind a serious remake thats more true to the story ( i havent read it, but im sure hollywood bastardized it the first time). you'd probably have to rename the movie, and distance it as far as possible from the ahnold flick.

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Baccus83 writes:
on Sep 12 2007 01:52 PM

So are we talking straight up remake of the movie, or a new adaptation of the book ("We Can Remember it for you Wholesale") I would really only be interested in the latter.

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Dread writes:
on Sep 12 2007 02:15 PM

If it's another adaptation of %u201CWe Can Remember It for You Wholesale%u201D, I'm OK with it. If it's really a remake of Totall Recall, I'm SOOOOO not.

It's not like it needs to be remade. Jesus.

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digitalrelic writes:
on Sep 12 2007 02:22 PM

this is one of the first time i am actually very excited for a remake.

Phillip K. Dick didn't write some crazy off the walls action movie like how Total Recall of 1990 ended up.

This 'remake', if done correctly, will be completely different than the movie.

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dontdoghb writes:
on Sep 12 2007 03:21 PM

No on can say "Get your *** to Mars." like Arnold

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dontdoghb writes:
on Sep 12 2007 03:24 PM

In reply to this comment (#1118708)
no *one* that is

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arcadefire325 writes:
on Sep 12 2007 03:24 PM

this is going to be stupid.

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FURY.UK writes:
on Sep 12 2007 03:40 PM

I thought the eye scene was classic, makes you want to "roll down a mountain in Mars with no helmet"! Really, it does!! ha ha. Think of the marketing, "Come to Mars and explode, its the end of your lifetime experience (and it hurts like s h 1 t!)"

Total Recall was good because of Paul Verhnovannss (something like that?) directorial style, and his no holds barred passion for blasting baddies, goodies and everyone else to pieces. I've never read the book (have I ever read a book? maybe once? dunno!) but I know philips has a huge following. I just think its too soon to be remaking this one, maybe in 20 years or so?

REGARDS

FURY

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damvbat writes:
on Sep 12 2007 04:47 PM

WTF!!!!

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10FootJackGilardi writes:
on Sep 12 2007 04:50 PM

The original had one of Ah-nold's best lines ever:

*BLAM!!"

"Considuh dis a deevorce."

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~*Admiral Snowstorm*~ writes:
on Sep 12 2007 05:50 PM

The thing with remakes is that they're not necessarily a bad idea, it's just that Hollywood rarely ever gets it right. 3:10 to Yuma is one remake on a rather short list of remakes that were actually as good as or better than the original movie (which was already a good movie, might I add). On the flipside, though, we have Halloween 2007 out right now, which most people consider a disgrace to the original. 9 times out of 10, the latter ends up being the public (and critical, really) consensus. If we could get more remakes like 3:10 to Yuma, I'd heartily support the recent movement of remaking everything. As it stands, though, it seems like all we're getting now are dumbed-down versions of already good/great/amazing movies. Until Hollywood pulls its act together and actually starts turning out some worthwhile remakes, I am jumping the bandwagon on this one and asking them to please stop bastardizing already good movies.

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chickiedoob writes:
on Sep 12 2007 06:41 PM

NOOOOOOOO!!!! Why? Just why? WTF??? What the hell is wrong with these people? What the hell is wrong with the original movie? Please, please, please, do NOT remake this movie. *goes off to cry a little and watch Total Recall* *sigh*

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Daniel Aaron writes:
on Sep 12 2007 07:11 PM

.....why.....Total Recall was ok but it wasnt the greatest film mabey if they just took the concept and made it more sweeping then just watching arnold kick a-- who knows the original was a b movie with a big budget it would take a lot of smoke and mirriors to generate just cause and or interest not that i wont watch it when its on T.V and i have nothing to do with myself,shoot i hope it comes on right now :)

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ThulsaDoom writes:
on Sep 12 2007 07:46 PM

Some one said Harrison Ford as Quaid? That's just stupid. Would the whole thing take place in nursing homes? The first movie was awsome, the quintessential sci-fi movie, it had every thing. If you didn't like it then that's your business, but it makes me wonder what you look for in sci-fi movies. A sequel, yes. Remake? no way.

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airsickmoth writes:
on Sep 12 2007 09:09 PM

I'm all for Phil Dick stories being retold in a better way. I think only 2 have been any good (Blade Runner and Minority Report). In fact it should be called "We Can Remember it for you Wholesale" and not total recall. I think that name kicks ***. I'm getting tired of the typical 2 word movie title. And if it followed closer to the original story and was more of a sci-fi noir thriller like Minority Report, I think it would be very good.

I'm all for "remakes" when they are just the basic story idea or source material re-imagined in a completely different way. If its just a shoot em up with Jason Statham and the director of Saw, forget it. Twisty sci-fi noir thriller with a respected director, awesome. Someone please give PKD stories the respect they deserve.

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digitalrelic writes:
on Sep 12 2007 09:15 PM

In reply to this comment (#1119855)
you didn't like A Scanner Darkly airsick? That's my favorite PDK adaptation yet.

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Product_of_You writes:
on Sep 12 2007 10:05 PM

Total Recall is great.

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proximo writes:
on Sep 13 2007 12:39 AM

In reply to this comment (#1118278)
Thats NOT true! There are indeed some remarkable Remakes, like "Scarface" or "The Departed" or "Heat"!!!! But around 95% of the remakes are crap..

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Codious writes:
on Sep 13 2007 02:04 AM

give the people air cohaagen!

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Xylemicarious writes:
on Sep 13 2007 09:08 AM

Total Recall does not need a remake. It's an awesome movie already and has barely dated anyway thanks to the fact that they couldn't really use CG. If you made it today, it would be a CG ridden **** bag.
I could almost imagine it could be good if they went for a more faithful adaptation of the book or something, but I'd really just prefer they didn't.

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Xylemicarious writes:
on Sep 13 2007 09:09 AM

Total Recall does not need a remake. It's an awesome movie already and has barely dated anyway thanks to the fact that they couldn't really use CG. If you made it today, it would be a CG ridden **** bag.
I could almost imagine it could be good if they went for a more faithful adaptation of the book or something, but I'd really just prefer they didn't.

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TheAncientEnemy writes:
on Sep 13 2007 07:49 PM

I heard a remake of John Rambo is in the works.

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eastern2western writes:
on Sep 14 2007 07:40 AM

If they are going to do a remake, they should at least change the story a little.
1) No muscle-bound action hero as your leading man. When I first saw arnold on the screen, I knew he was going to kick butt. Cast some skinny looking office nerd type of person.
2) No wacky side characters such as the wacky three boobies woman.
3) Be faithful to the original story and put some intellectual stuff in the story because the original became this massive massacre.

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ericssin writes:
on Sep 15 2007 03:42 PM

let's hope they don't make it, the alien machine was interesting but then all the movie was like the other Schwarzenegger's movies on those days:

good guy meses with no one
bad guys pissoff good guy
good guy slaughters everybody (provided bad guys have a terrible aiming)

what's next, a Commando remake?

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FURY.UK writes:
on Sep 15 2007 04:58 PM

Its a shame Hollywood has mistaken their a.r.s.e as their brain! Are there no new ideas? I'm sure there are more books than films.

"It worked in the 90's, It'll work now"

"Why be creative when we can rehash a story again (and again)?"

Its a sad world (in L.A)..

FURY

(Reply to this)

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