Terry Matalas Helming Remake Of ’80 Sci-Fi Epic That Deserves More Love

The 1985 film is an interesting choice, as the original Enemy Mine did not do well financially. Estimated to have cost over $40 million when including marketing costs, it only earned back $12 million at the box office.

However, in recent years, the film has been reappraised and considered something of a cult classic. It will be interesting to see if that modern reassessment is able to make Terry Matalas’ version of Enemy Mine into a hit.

It is however easy to see how the plot of Enemy Mine caught the eye of Terry Matalas when it bears many resemblances to classic Star Trek themes.

The movie centers on a future where humans have made contact with a hostile alien species called Dracs, which are a humanoid form of reptiles. The hatred between humans and Dracs is so intense that they will attempt to kill each other on sight.

On one such occasion, a pilot played by Dennis Quaid gets into a fight with a Drac while they’ we’re both piloting spaceships. They wind up damaging each other enough to crash land onto the same dangerous planet.

Faced with a strange new world that could kill them both, they reluctantly put aside their hatred to coexist and try to get off the planet alive. Terry Matalas has not shared what he enjoyed about Enemy Mine, but retrospective reviews praised its themes of tolerance and compassion towards those who are different from ourselves.

Despite the original movie’s disappointing returns, it is easy to see why it was made. It is based on a novella by author Barry B. Longyear published in 1979, which won the Nebula Award for best novella.

It was even popular enough to warrant two sequel stories being published. So perhaps Enemy Mine as a movie adaptation merely needs someone of Terry Matalas’s pedigree to get the acclaim that it did as a written story.

Beyond Star Trek, Terry Matalas has shown he has an enduring passion for the sci-fi genre. One of his first big projects was as the showrunner for the 12 Monkeys TV series which was also praised for expanding beyond the content of the Bruce Willis movie.

If Terry Matalas can replicate the streak of success he has been on with other sci-fi projects and translate that over to his writing for Enemy Mine, he could have big hit on his hands.

It is still too early into the process to say when we might see this remake of Enemy Mine, as Terry Matalas would still have to write the script at this juncture. But if the project moves forward, Matalas likely has strong connections at this point with those who have worked on other sci-fi projects to help put together a talented cast and crew.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter