Rebooted Battlestar Galactica movie

[paladin]

'Battlestar Galactica' movie gets new life at Universal
Monday, April 7, 2014 PrintEmailBe the first to comment
By:
Dave McNary


Universal is ramping up a movie version of the sci-fi franchise "Battlestar Galactica," aiming to develop the film as a complete reimagining of the story.

"Transcendence" writer Jack Paglen has signed on to write the screenplay. Paglen has also committed to Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" sequel for Fox that will start production this fall.

Original series creator Glen Larson will produce the "Battlestar Galactica" film.

"Galactica" generated two TV series. The first, starring Lorne Greene and Richard Hatch, ran during 1978-79 season and was centered on humans engaged in a lengthy war against a cybernetic race known as the Cylons while searcing for Earth.

In 2003, a reimagined "Battlestar Galactica" miniseries aired on Sci Fi Channel. The second series, starring Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell, went on to run for four seasons.

In 2009, speculation emerged that Bryan Singer was attached to direct a "Battlestar Galactica" movie.

Universal's exec VP of production Scott Bernstein and director of development Jay Polidoro are overseeing the latest version of "Battlestar Galactica" for the studio.

Warner Bros. will open "Transcendence," starring Johnny Depp, on April 18.

Paglen is represented by ICM Partners and Lichter Grossman Nichols Adler and Feldman. Larson is represented by the Lichtman Group, manager Denny Bond of Management 3 as well as attorneys Neville Johnson, Douglas Johnson and James Ryan of Johnson & Johnson.


(C) 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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I wonder what the difference will be this time.

[Havok]

Who cares. The Cylons are going to chase them from their home world. They will be the last Battlestar. There will be lots of cool space pew-pews and dramatic tube launches. They aren't going to find Earth before the movie ends, but I bet they will have a good idea where it is and will head there to an ending scene of great hope and musical fanfare. Cue sequel or TV show.

It's just a cash grab with a fairly popular brand name. One re-imagining was enough.

[Guardsman Bass]

I wouldn't be surprised if they kept their options open for a trilogy of movies, if the first reboot movie does well. It could be pretty cool to see the story done with Big Budget Movie money.

I wonder how much they'd actually keep. If they kept the "Twelve Colonies destroyed, fleeing to Earth" overarching plot, then my guess is that the first movie would be about the escape and a rescue attempt sent back to save a bunch of other human survivors who are running out of time and about to be destroyed. There would be a Skeptic Guy arguing against risking the Galactica to save a few extra people, but he'll be overruled and Apollo/Starbuck/Whatever will lead the effort to save the humans and win a flashy battle, after which it ends with them fleeing in the direction of whatever clue they have of Earth (maybe some person in the survivors rescued).

The "Kobol" element would probably go, along with any religious imagery like with the 2003 series.

[Esquire]

They can't possibly reboot the same series twice in a decade... can they?

[Guardsman Bass]

They did that with Spider-Man, rebooting it a second time only five years after the end of the first trilogy of Spider-Man movies. They also did it with the Hulk, re-booting it twice and re-casting him three times.

It's got everything there for a re-boot, too. There's at least some Galactica fans who will watch regardless of how different it is from the TV series, and it's a flashy space fantasy with all manner of potential for melodrama and space battles.

[Havok]

They can't possibly reboot the same series twice in a decade... can they?

You do know how long a decade is don't you? By the time this hits the theaters it will probably be 2016. NBSG came out in 2003.

[Havok]

They did that with Spider-Man, rebooting it a second time only five years after the end of the first trilogy of Spider-Man movies. They also did it with the Hulk, re-booting it twice and re-casting him three times.

It's got everything there for a re-boot, too. There's at least some Galactica fans who will watch regardless of how different it is from the TV series, and it's a flashy space fantasy with all manner of potential for melodrama and space battles.

Doesn't matter. It is always going to be a second rate Star Wars or a wanna-be Star Trek and that is how the general population is going to see it. The name is just as much a stigma as it is a brand.

[ray245]

Who cares. The Cylons are going to chase them from their home world. They will be the last Battlestar. There will be lots of cool space pew-pews and dramatic tube launches. They aren't going to find Earth before the movie ends, but I bet they will have a good idea where it is and will head there to an ending scene of great hope and musical fanfare. Cue sequel or TV show.

It's just a cash grab with a fairly popular brand name. One re-imagining was enough.

Well, it is always interesting to see a new take on an existing story. If we can have 20 over different film adaptation of Dracula, Sherlock Holmes and etc, I don't see why there isn't more room for another adaptation of Galactica. Furthermore, it is not as if nuBSG is that well known among the general public. Most people around the world probably didn't even knew there was a rebooted series. nuBSG despite its acclaim is a fairly niche series.

I hope the new film can maintain a balance of tone between "gritty, dark, and realistic' and "pew,pew, space cowboys'.

[Borgholio]

You never know, they could do something new this time like actually finding Earth and being forced to defend it against a Cylon attack? Or finding an advanced Earth that can actually help them? Those two options were never explored on screen.

[Grumman]

I'd potentially be interested in watching this, just not if it apes the tone of the last series. Give me some fun sci-fi to watch, without the grimderp.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

It's going to be Glen A. Larson at the helm ... the guy who produced the original '70s show and movie. Glen A. Larson is also infamous for not having had an original idea ever. For example, Battlestar Galactica was, essentially, kooky ancient astronauts conspiracy theory + Mormons ... IN SPAAAAACE!

Then again, a rehash of Mormons ... IN SPAAAACE might actually be an improvement over Ronald "Let's write ourselves into a corner and then DEUS EX MACHINA" Moore's creation.

[DaveJB]

I'd potentially be interested in watching this, just not if it apes the tone of the last series. Give me some fun sci-fi to watch, without the grimderp.

I'm not sure they COULD go back to the campy and fun style without it being laughed off the screen, as the basic premise of BSG (99% of humanity being wiped out, the remainder being forced to live on spaceships under the constant danger of attack) isn't really something that lends itself to that sort of tone. Plus, the main complaint most people had about NuBSG wasn't the grimdark stuff, but more the plot arc descending into total incoherency.

If they did want a more lighthearted BSG-based film, I think a good idea, crazy as it sounds, would be to go back to the basic premise of Galactica 1980, but this time do it right. Have the Colonials aboard the fleet 3-4 generations down from the originals and thus acclimatised to their situation (eliminating the grimdark stuff), and make Earth advanced but not quite advanced enough to fend off a massive Cylon fleet that's approaching, forcing the Colonials and Earth people to work together to save each other.

[Eternal_Freedom]

If it's being done by Larson I'm slightly more optimistic than if it were a completely new guy coming along. With him, I suspect that the Cylons will go back to there alien status rather than "evil Terminators we built ourselves."

If they decide to do more than one film, it would be interesting to have the first one set during the long war, leading up to the destruction of the colonies. But that's probably just my wish to see Galactica and her fellow Battlestars blowing shit up.

[Guardsman Bass]

It's going to be Glen A. Larson at the helm ... the guy who produced the original '70s show and movie. Glen A. Larson is also infamous for not having had an original idea ever. For example, Battlestar Galactica was, essentially, kooky ancient astronauts conspiracy theory + Mormons ... IN SPAAAAACE!

He's only producing it, though. The screen-writer and director give more more hope.

If they did want a more lighthearted BSG-based film, I think a good idea, crazy as it sounds, would be to go back to the basic premise of Galactica 1980, but this time do it right. Have the Colonials aboard the fleet 3-4 generations down from the originals and thus acclimatised to their situation (eliminating the grimdark stuff), and make Earth advanced but not quite advanced enough to fend off a massive Cylon fleet that's approaching, forcing the Colonials and Earth people to work together to save each other.

I think they'll keep the grimdark, at least to some degree. It's the only thing that would distinguish a Galactica movie from just being seen as another Star Wars rip-off (especially with actual Star Wars films in the pipeline), and there's definitely a market for some degree of grimdark considering the Nolan Batman movies.

[Grumman]

I'd potentially be interested in watching this, just not if it apes the tone of the last series. Give me some fun sci-fi to watch, without the grimderp.

I'm not sure they COULD go back to the campy and fun style without it being laughed off the screen, as the basic premise of BSG (99% of humanity being wiped out, the remainder being forced to live on spaceships under the constant danger of attack) isn't really something that lends itself to that sort of tone. Plus, the main complaint most people had about NuBSG wasn't the grimdark stuff, but more the plot arc descending into total incoherency.

I'm not looking for camp either. I don't mind the characters being in a demoralising situation, but I want them to be characters I actually want to see overcome that situation, and not just a bunch of self-destructive assholes.

[Eternal_Freedom]

I'd potentially be interested in watching this, just not if it apes the tone of the last series. Give me some fun sci-fi to watch, without the grimderp.

I'm not sure they COULD go back to the campy and fun style without it being laughed off the screen, as the basic premise of BSG (99% of humanity being wiped out, the remainder being forced to live on spaceships under the constant danger of attack) isn't really something that lends itself to that sort of tone. Plus, the main complaint most people had about NuBSG wasn't the grimdark stuff, but more the plot arc descending into total incoherency.

I'm not looking for camp either. I don't mind the characters being in a demoralising situation, but I want them to be characters I actually want to see overcome that situation, and not just a bunch of self-destructive assholes.

If they move more to an original-series vibe that will help considerably, since the Galactica will be an active-duty warship that's been fighting a war for a while, rather than a museum ship put out to pasture after 40 years of peace. She'll have a crew that knows how to handle stress without going all, well, nBSG.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

If it's being done by Larson I'm slightly more optimistic than if it were a completely new guy coming along. With him, I suspect that the Cylons will go back to there alien status rather than "evil Terminators we built ourselves."

If they decide to do more than one film, it would be interesting to have the first one set during the long war, leading up to the destruction of the colonies. But that's probably just my wish to see Galactica and her fellow Battlestars blowing shit up.

It's a Hollywood sci-fi movie featuring a property with FIGHTERS ... IN SPAAACE. Of course they're gonna blow shit up. I'm expecting pretty explosions, a paper-thin plot featuring angsty photogenic young white people, and sexy times.

Which is to say that my expectations are so low you couldn't squeeze a Colonial Viper under them, but at least it should be mindlessly entertaining.

Or maddeningly preachy, given that the scriptwriter is the same guy who wrote Transcendance, whose synopsis seems to virtually promise a "ZOMG TEKNOLOGEE IS TEH EVULZ" type of film. And this is something you could easily do with Battlestar Galactica, given the Cylons of the Glen A. Larson series were evil robots who exterminated their creators, and the Cylons of the Ronald Moore series were ... sexy evil robots who exterminated their creators.

[Eternal_Freedom]

I meant that we'd see more than just Galactica on her own. Seeing more of the actual war with other Battlestars would be cool.

Hell, a modern remake of the disastrous Peace Conference would be cool to watch. Poor Atlantia.

[ray245]

I am hoping that the new Battlestar will actually be a behemoth and dwarf many other ships we will see in the series. The oBSG series is always harping on the idea that the Galactia is a massive ship when it is relatively small by the standard of most Sci-fi ships. A massive ship can convey the idea that the Battlestars are so powerful that even the survival of one warship can ensure the safety of an entire fleet.

I hope that Battlestars can be portrayed ships that are rare and uncommon, as opposed to being a common mainstay of the Colonial Fleet.

[Eternal_Freedom]

The trouble with that is that, in-universe, they are very large, powerful ships. And they are the "mainstay" of the Colonial Fleet. Compare it to the big aircraft carriers, the "mainstay" of the US Navy, despite being (relatively) rare ships. Or to ISD's from SW.

[Tribble]

Hopefully a remake of the Peace Conference would include a genuine ambush rather than the fleet falling due to El Presidente's deep personal stupidity.

[LadyTevar]

I am one of those who think nuBSG was great until Starbuck came back from the Dead. It went rapidly FUBAR from there.

I am cautious about a new movie. I know that Richard Hatch has been trying to get one done for a decade, even before he agreed to take up a role on nuBSG. I'll follow information as it comes, and cross my fingers.

[Scrib]

Who cares. The Cylons are going to chase them from their home world. They will be the last Battlestar. There will be lots of cool space pew-pews and dramatic tube launches. They aren't going to find Earth before the movie ends, but I bet they will have a good idea where it is and will head there to an ending scene of great hope and musical fanfare. Cue sequel or TV show.

It's just a cash grab with a fairly popular brand name. One re-imagining was enough.

I'll repeat what I said in the Star Wars thread: everything is a cash-grab, the only question is which cash grabs nerds love. Not that I see much to imply that this is anything particularly bad (besides infringing on the territory of a nerd favorite) mind.

For me: I'll wait. Who knows? It could be the Dredd of military SW. Of course, the larger the budget the more bullshit but one can hope.

[Haruko]

You can't reboot Edward James Olmos.

[DesertFly]

I must be in the minority here that liked all of nuBSG (with the exception of the last 45 minutes or so), and all of Caprica. I'm willing to give a new revival a chance, but I do so with full knowledge that it will be yet another cynical cash-grab. It may grow into something better, but I am not holding out any hope. After all, "Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment."