Jaye Davidson plays Ra, the film's lead villain.
Is Stargate headed back to the big screen?
Roland Emmerich, who directed and co-wrote the original 1994 film, is optimistic that the pitch for a rebooted Stargate movie trilogy will go forward. But in a new interview with Digital Spy, he did not say that the studio has officially given the project a green light — contrary to what online news outlets are suggesting today.
We know that Emmerich and co-writer Dean Devlin haven’t given up on their hopes of a big-budget movie trilogy — which was their original plan before MGM acquired the rights to Stargate and turned it into a television franchise in 1997. The two have been talking about it for years, and the cancellation of the television franchise and the turn-over at MGM only breathed new life into the rumors.
The duo — who are also behind movies like Independence Day and 1998’s Godzilla — pitched their plan to MGM last year (story).
“We went to MGM, who has the rights, and we proposed to them to do a sequel — but as a reboot, and reboot it as a movie and then do three parts,” Emmerich told Digital Spy. “And that’s what we’re doing right now. [We’ll] pretty soon have to look for a writer and start.”
Emmerich added that original film stars Kurt Russell and James Spader would not work for their plans to reboot the movies. “The actors look totally different,” he said. “It would not work.”
The proposed trilogy also would not have anything to do with SG-1 and the television continuity.
But Emmerich stopped short of actually saying that MGM has given the go-ahead to begin production. A source told GateWorld that, while preliminary conversations are taking place between the producers and the studio, the project is not yet in development.The director’s comments indicate that the next step in the process is to hire a screenwriter. Any official production commitment from the studio would likely require at least a completed script that all parties are happy with.
The strategy of a high-profile, big-budget feature film does seem like the most logical way to reboot the franchise, which struggled in the ratings during its final years on Syfy Channel. Paramount did it successfully with the Star Trek franchise, with four years separating the final season of Enterprise and J.J. Abrams’ 2009 feature.
Stargate Universe went off the air in 2011.
Meanwhile, a pair of sequels to 1996’s mega-hit Independence Day is going forward at FOX, which has announced a release date of July 3, 2015, for the first. Despite earlier reports that actor Will Smith won’t be involved, Emmerich said that moods have changed and talks with Smith are starting soon.
That’s great news for ID4 fans. But if Emmerich is planning to direct those sequels and also the first in a Stargate trilogy, then practically speaking that means the latter is still a few years away from production … and probably would not arrive in theaters before 2018.
Watch the video below, and keep it locked on GateWorld for more news as it breaks!
(Thanks to Ashley for the tip)
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View Comments
it doesn't *need* a reboot, especially if it's going to ignore the TV franchise!!
i think brad wright and jonathan glassner should partner again, and make that proposed sg1-atlantis-universe combo movie. (though don't let the universe storyline overwhelm the sg1/atlantis stories)
don't fix what's not broken. just pamper and tread lovingly on the stories/characters you already have. if you make it, the fans will come!
(((stargate tv franchise)))
I'm not sure how I feel about this.
He's stupid if he's gonna ignore the TV franchise where an Earth with advanced technology and spaceships is established. The success of Star Trek has shown people like spaceships on the big screen. 304s are much cooler than the Enterprise. If MGM wants to visit Stargate again, don't let Emmerich touch it.
No Reboot! Don't thow away 17 seasons of mythology. If MGM wants to start it back up, get the fans what they want - a new show.
The Problem is, that's not what MGM wants. They want $$, and they don't care about the existing fanbase. If they feel they can make more money off of a rebooted trilogy in the theaters, they'll do it in a heartbeat.
I think one of the reasons why Universe got cancelled was the writers didn't do a good job introducing it as a new type of show, there was too much back story and elements from the other shows to make you appreciate the show in the first 10 or so episodes. It worked if you were a hard core stargate fan, but to not as a new viewer. There simply too much that has happened since the show started, that to just make a movie continuing the story would be a bit challenging to sort of "get" if you never watched the show. It CAN be done, but sorry I don't think the producers of the show should be involved in a movie, I don't think the TV movies were that good either. But if they ARE going to reboot this, I'm not sure Emmerich is the right choice, he makes blockbusters in the vein Michael Bay does, focusing on set pieces and trailer moments while sacrificing good story. If they did make a movie based on the show, it should be about the world finding out about the Stargate program, and basically the world goes in chaos and Stargate command become public enemy number 1. Then throw in some gate travel and SG-1 trying to find a goauld to help takeover earth to bring stability even though they don't want to. That would really shake things up to an epic scale. You can still have independence day type explosions.
To quote Grumpy Cat: "NO"
NO! There is no reason to reboot this movie, especially when SGU needs to be completed, SGA never got a proper ending on television, and SG-1 was going to get its own movie!
It would be nice if Emmerich and MGM would actually *listen* to what the fans of Stargate (the ENTIRE franchise!) would like to see!
A deal for a big screen trilogy is only a good thing. It will be hype spread out over at least half a decade and perhaps that hype can respawn a series set in the original sg universes, if not one set in this new one. Season 1 was nearly 17 years ago and this would only help to bring in new and younger viewers. Think of it as a long alternative reality arc and enjoy it if it happens!
The Star Trek reboot occurred 40 years after the series whose characters it shared went off the air.
The Stargate reboot, if greenlit today, would be on the air less than 10 years after the series with O'Neill, Jackson and Skaara went off the air.
There's really no comparing the two. And frankly, Emmerich hasn't done a single decent thing since Stargate, and he's made one of the most laughable disaster movies I've ever seen (The Day After Tomorrow... oh no, the freightliner that crashed in the middle of Manhattan had rabid wolves on it!), making me dread what he or his hired guns eventually come up with.
this franchise is in desperate need of a reboot. Universe got canceled because its a show based on a movie from 1994, kids today dont even know the movie existed. Reboot it, and lets see what they will focus on this time.