True story: I was in Detroit in October 2009 and saw scenes on the street such as above, along with other streets that looked like a giant warzone. And I honestly thought nothing of it. I mean, it’s Detroit, and no offense to any Movie Buzzers fans who live in the Motor City, but your hometown doesn’t exactly have the best rep for law and order. Eventually though someone clued me in that the Red Dawn remake was filmming in Detroit. I always liked the original, and since I got to take an unathorized look at the on-location sets, I anxiously awaited to see what a group of American kids could do against the mighty Red China, who were going to take the place of the Soviets in the original 1984 film.
And I waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
See, MGM, the company behind the new remake, has had some major financial problems. Although Red Dawn was completed, MGM hasn’t had sufficient funds to mount a release of the film. With MGM’s financial problems more-or-less sorted out, I waited again for the news of the Red Dawn remake.
And waited yet again. Until yesterday’s LA Times reported that we’ll have to wait even longer. Why? Because the Chinese aren’t going to be the villains anymore, that’s why. Concerned that the film might hurt United States entertainment performance in the huge Chinese market, MGM is swapping China for North Korea through digital post production and dialogue fixes. This might be the first time that the villains of a film have been entirely changed in post production. Since North Korea does not legally import United States films, there isn’t a financial issue there.
Part of me is shocked, not because of the change, but because in our ultra- politically-correct society nobody thought that this could be a potential issue — like how Captain America: The First Avenger will be released in several countries as The First Avenger, as I reported back in January. Also I am shocked that anyone could actually think that North Korea could pose the same military threat as China to the United States (there’s an obvious size difference here). Heck, part of me thinks MGM should just go ahead and make this a comedy and add in the Kim Jong Il puppet from Team America: World Police.
The article quotes Tripp Vinson, a producer on the film, saying “We were initially very reluctant to make any changes. But after careful consideration we constructed a way to make a scarier, smarter and more dangerous ‘Red Dawn’ that we believe improves the movie.” In other words, I think Vinson is saying, “If we don’t change it, we’ll never have a prayer of getting this released and breaking even.” But that’s just me.
The article even suggests that Red Dawn might just go for a quiet direct-to-DVD release or may not even be released at all. So why would MGM go through the expense of the digital fixes then?
Should we ever see it, the new Red Dawn is directed by Dan Bradley (stunt coordinator for the Spider-Man films, directing his first film) from a script by Carl Ellsworth (Disturbia) and Jeremy Passmore. It stars Thor‘s Chris Hemsworth and Josh Peck as brothers Jed and Matt Eckert who fight against a Chinese North Korean invasion.
What’s your take on the Red Dawn snafu? Should the film be altered or just be mothballed? Give us your take on this controversial story!
Recent Comments