Now that it has emerged from the morass of financial insolvency, MGM is eager to mine its archive of familiar properties for potential remakes, with the likes of RoboCop and WarGames in active development.  Another familiar title we might be seeing in theaters all over again is Carrie, a remake of the 1976 horror tale directed by Brian De Palma and starring Sissy Spacek in the role with which she remains most closely identified.  The remake project might just have a director, as Kimberly Peirce is in talks with MGM and Screen Gems to direct a new adaptation of the early Stephen King novel.

RoboCop, director Paul Verhoeven's 1987 action/science-fiction/satire is brilliant, an audacious and intelligent skewering of dehumanizing American consumer culture that is probably even more relevant now, 24 years later, than it was at the time of its release.  As part of its post-bankruptcy strategy, MGM is moving ahead with a RoboCop remake that has been developing, in several different iterations, for years now.  While nobody can match Verhoeven's lunacy, the studio made an inspired choice with Jose Padilha, the Brazilian director who would make his American debut with the tale of Alex Murphy.  While it's still very early, the director has shared some crucial insight on his approach to RoboCop, and it sounds different enough to stand up as its own cinematic entity.

Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes is apparently determined to recruit as many Oscar-caliber actors to populate his first attempt at a franchise action movie, the twenty-third installment in the venerable franchise starring super-spy and faultless love-maker James Bond, which we've been informally referring to as Bond 23, but might actually be titled Skyfall.  Daniel Craig is returning for his third round as Bond, with Oscar-winner Javier Bardem as the bad guy, two-time nominee Ralph Fiennes in a mysterious role, and one-time winner Judi Dench once again playing M.  Now, it looks as though five-time Academy Award nominee and all-around badass Albert Finney has joined the production.

Since emerging from the wilderness of financial insolvency, MGM has pursued a strategy of pillaging its library of identifiable properties to remake.  Among the reboots in development are Carrie, Mr. Mom, Poltergeist, Jose Padhilla's Robocop, and of course the already-completed Red Dawn remake starring Chris Hemsworth, Adrianne Palicki, and Josh Hutcherson.  Though Dawn has yet to see release, the studio is adding another re-do to the ever-growing pile, as Seth Gordon has been hired to direct a remake of the computer-paranoia thriller WarGames.

After getting its financial dealings all straightened out MGM starting shopping several of its properties around to studios for co-financing and distribution.  The most notable of these titles is, of course, the twenty-third installment of the James Bond franchise, directed by Sam Mendes and once again starring Daniel Craig.  Sony was the most likely candidate to distribute Bond 23, as the studio did the same for Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.  Now it's official.  Sony Picture will co-finance and distribute not just Bond 23, but Bond 24 as well, meaning that the world's foremost secret agent will continue using quality Sony products. 

Like clowns, dolls are inherently creepy.  Now that MGM is solvent and back in the game, the studio is eager to reboot the Child's Play horror franchise, which starred a hideous, red headed doll possessed by the spirit of a serial killer.  Brad Dourif, who voiced Chucky the murderous doll in the first film and its four sequels, will return for the remake.  He'll be joined by writer and potential director Don Mancini, who wrote all five films and directed the last installment, Seed of Chucky.

My devotion to Paul Verhoeven's 1987 action-satire RoboCop is well documented.  The dehumanizing, consumption-obsessed future America at which the film so deftly pokes fun bears no small similarity to the culture we currently inhabit.  A reboot of the franchise is thoroughly unnecessary, particularly considering the crappiness of subsequent sequels, neither of which pack even a fraction of the original's perverse wit.  MGM's financial woes created the impression that a RoboCop remake would never happen, but it looks like the newly-solvent studio plans on making Detroit's robotic enforcer a tentpole franchise.  Deadline broke the news that MGM is in talks with Brazilian director Jose Padilha to helm the remake.

MGM has begun seeking its creditors’ approval for a prepackaged bankruptcy plan in which they’ll exchange over $4 billion debt for equity in a new company that holds the right to the James Bond Franchise as well as the two-part Hobbit series.

After Peter Jackson's recent issues with the MEAA, (which we covered here), Warner Brothers, New Line and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer pictures have released an official statement in regards to the allegations of unfair treatment of actors in New Zealond.

Read the full press release below.

When Darren Aronofsky finally left the remake of Robocop, rumors seemed to point to the directors “snobbery” when it came to 3D. MGM really was pushing for the film to take the 3D route, while Aronofsky decided to leave the project and take on Black Swan.

Yet MTV reports that his departure from the remake had nothing to do with 3D, but had everything to do with the unstable economic situation of the studio.