Stupid Thing

Every year it's something new regarding John Carpenter's classic sci-fi horror film The Thing. First it's a sequel, then it's a(nother) remake, then it's going to be a TV series, then they actually made a pretty sweet video game based off the movie- when will it end? We hope never, as long as a project eventually happens. Today the news hit the web that the boys over at Strike Entertainment (Dawn of the Dead remake) are the next to be working on something Thing related, this time a prequel to Carpenter's film. Read on for the skinny.

Fango has learned that Strike is combing Hollywood for a writer (or writers) to tackle a Thing Prequel. Since the production house works solely with Universal, which gave us John Carpenter’s classic 1982 THING remake, this is understandable.

The gestation period on a new THING has been a long one. Since Carpenter’s film—starring Kurt Russell, a bevy of amazing character actors and the timeless, inimitable special FX of Rob Bottin—overcame initial critical and public derision to become a modern classic, Universal has pondered just what to do with a property that is ripe for follow-up status. Many have stepped in to lend their two cents, beginning with Dark Horse Comics, which created a miniseries back in the early ’90s that was the next best thing to getting a full-blown cinematic continuation. Then George Clooney flirted with the idea of bringing the original story, “Who Goes There?” (by John W. Campbell), to the small screen in a project similar to the black-and-white FAIL SAFE he executive-produced; then the THING video game came along; then Frank Darabont was attached to a Sci-Fi Channel original movie. Time will tell if the prequel’s birth will come anytime soon...