The ’70s Sci-Fi Thriller No One Can Get Remade
In the 1970s, sci-fi movies exploded. This is the decade that birthed sci-fi classics like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Wars, and Logan’s Run. While many of the classics from this era became franchises or received remakes or sequels, Logan’s Run is a film from the golden age of sci-fi movies that can’t seem to get remade no matter how hard people try.
There Have Been Attempts At Remaking Logan’s Run Since The ’90s
And people have tried. Attempted remakes and adaptations of Logan’s Run have been in some phase of development since the mid-90s. The idea has passed between a series of directors and screenwriters with dozens of creatives attempting to bring this story back to life.
Warner Bros. Remake Attempts Have Shuffled Through The Hands Of Prominent Directors And Screenwriters
Producer Joel Silver and Warner Bros. have been spearheading attempts to remake Logan’s Run for nearly 30 years, attaching directors like Skip Woods (Sabotage), Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects), and Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) to the project. Notable screenwriters like Ethan Gross and Paul Todisco, Dan Harris, Christopher McQuarrie, Alex Garland, Andrew Baldwin, Ken Levine, and Peter Craig have all attempted to create a screenplay for the endeavor.
A Female-Led Remake Was In The Works
In 2015, the project was revived with the concept of introducing a female lead. The thought came soon after the success of female-driven dystopian franchises like Hunger Games and Divergent faced box office success and the hope was that hopping on the trend could help resuscitate the classic sci-fi story. However, in 2021, all hope of a new Logan’s Run was demolished after Joel Silver, the project’s only advocator resigned from his own production company in 2019 and no one else picked up interest.
What Is Logan’s Run About?
Released in 1976, Logan’s Run is an American science fiction action film directed by Michael Anderson with a cast featuring Michael York, Jenny Agutter, Richard Jordan, Roscoe Lee Browne, Farrah Fawcett, and Peter Ustinov. Crafted from the 1967 novel of the same name by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, the screenplay by David Zelag Goodman unfolds in a seemingly utopian future society that unveils itself as a dystopia. In the world of Logan’s Run, balance is maintained by a grim practice: everyone reaching the age of 30 is systematically terminated to manage population and resource consumption. The narrative revolves around Logan 5, a “Sandman” tasked with ending those who attempt to escape death but now faces the prospect of his own termination.
Logan’s Run diverges from the novel in certain aspects, altering the age for the mandatory end-of-life event to 30 instead of 21 and introducing the concept of “Carrousel” for eliminating individuals at that age.
Logan’s Run Is Free To Watch On Tubi
Logan’s Run was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and released to mixed reviews from critics. The consensus was that most audience members enjoyed the feature for its outlandish storyline and silly execution, but that the film was ruined if taken too seriously. The film received acclaim for its visual effects, earning a Special Academy Award and six Saturn Awards, including Best Science Fiction Film. While the movie is a bit silly to watch through a modern lens, for the 1970s, it was a box office success. Logan’s Run cost producers about $8 million to make and it brought in a whopping $25 million at the box office, more than tripling its budget.While Logan’s Run has yet to receive a remake, the movie’s success inspired a spin-off TV series that aired in 1977–1978 on CBS and comprised of 14 episodes. Now Logan’s Run is available to watch for free on Tubi.
