If Sarcazmo ran a studio... 7 random horror/sci-fi remakes he would greenlight. Part 2: Over $25 million budget.

We continue with the next batch of 7 random (horror, sci-fi) movies Sarcazmo would produce if he had the backing power of a movie studio. This next batch would require a bigger budget...bigger budget equals bigger gamble, so I would have to do each movie right. I always say worry about making a good movie first and foremost, if it fails at the box office and is quality, the audience will find it on dvd and blu-ray. It it fails at the box office and is schlocky, you're doomed. Never underestimate the power of the dvd. So I'm gonna make me some quality movies.

DVD - Average Wholesale Price = $16

Marketing - $2.75
Duplication - $1.00
Packaging - $0.90
Distribution - $0.80
Total - $5.45
Gross Profit per Unit = $10.55

So now 7 random big budget movies Sarcazmo would role the dice on.

7. Something Wicked This way Comes. 1983. The story of a traveling dark carnival that promises to fulfill your childhood desires, only to lead you to your doom. One of Disney's darkest movies ever, there was a power struggle during filming between the author of the book the movie was based on (Ray Bradbury) and the cookie eater studio Disney. Surprise, surprise, Disney wanted to make it more family friendly, and Bradbury wanted it true to the book. The movie was a disappointment.

      This movie needs to be remade, and the right way, by that I mean children getting eliminated by a super creepy dark carnival leader. There needs to be a BUNCH of creepy henchmen and disturbing freaks, a genuine sense of dread. Need about $50 million or so to make this one...you need a huge carnival set, an A-list bad guy, and a small town.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up7KHbJTmoo

6. The Hidden. 1987. Made for under $5 million in 1987, The Hidden could be a huge action hit if done right. The Hidden is about an alien who jumps body to body using up its hosts while having a good time. The alien likes to drive fancy cars, listen to loud music, drive at reckless speeds, take multiple gunshot wounds....and kill people. Two cops are hot on its tail and one of the cops is an alien.

     Make this a huge monster on the loose in a big city (New York). Get two A-listers and a great action director (Mctiernan). Great action scene possibilities, as the alien can take multiple gunshots and keep fighting. Have the alien steal super fast cars...(the Fast and  the Furious crowd would eat it up), have it blasting music, stealing the coolest automatic weapons, and be a threat to national security. Big time money needed here $75 to 110 million depending on which city you shoot in.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjCpE-nb0HU

     5. Class of 1984. 1982. Think Dangerous Minds meets Grease meets 187 meets Escape From New York meets The Warriors meets The Substitute meets The Principal meets Lean on Me....whew. I love a good tale of a tough teacher taking a teaching job in a riot scene of a school. Its always entertaining watching a teacher beat up punk students. Get a bad ass action star (Bruce Willis), coming into a punk ridden school to clean house. You gotta have punks with masks, punks with tattoos, punks with makeup, punks that can fight, and sexy girl punks not afraid to mix it up.
     I want scenes of the craziest looking punks getting in Bruce Willis's face and he doesn't blink. Scenes of punks crashing partys and destroying everything. Scenes of a punks harassing preppy girls. Scenes of a punk concert at the school talent show. Scenes of bad punks in class actually proving to be very intelligent, answering difficult questions with big answers. When asked why dont they join the debate team, the punks say drug dealing is way too lucrative. The huge finale would be during THE PROM,(so epic, man I gotta write movies), with the teacher and his staff taking on the gangs of punks.
     Throw as much money as you can to get a bankable star who can play a teacher and a tough guy....Bruce Willis would be my top choice here, followed by Hugh Jackman, Clive Owen, and Daniel Craig. Get a huge desolete city and school, a strong female lead to play the principal of the school, and you're good to go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRTwc68O6b8

4. Waxwork. 1988. Waxwork is a great little horror movie about a wax museum that if you cross the guardrail into the display you actually are teleported to the scene. If you die in the scene, you die in real life, and your body becomes part of the exhibit. For a low budget movie it got a lot done. The sets were good, the acting ok, the cheese was so  thick you could put it on nachos. This is ready for a redoing I say. Set it in a big downtown LA wax museum with multiple levels. Have a field trip sized group of teens enter the museum and slaughter away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ4FlHowFOc

3. Masters of the Universe. This movie has been in developement hell for awhile, the reason...... it could be  the most difficult movie to remake ever? How does one go about this? Masters is difficult for a plethora of reasons. The main reason..... how much do you spend on the NUMEROUS CGI effects the movie would require. Entire characters would have to be CGI...how else would you do Tri-Klops, Beast-Man, Man-E-Faces, Orko, Battle Cat, Roboto, and you have to have Trap-Jaw and Whiplash. Yes they did some of these characters in the first He-Man, but the audience of today expects more, more effects, more epic, more wow factor. They didnt even attempt, let along know how, to do Trap-Jaw or Tri-Klops, two villains you MUST have in the movie.

     The problem here is how much are you willing to spend. If you go realistic "Nolan" style with the characters, can you make this movie for $90 to 120 million...which is about as high as you can go because you have to ask yourself, will people remember He-Man? If you go full fantasy mode, you're looking at $200 million easy, and I dont know if He-Man has the worldwide recognition to justify that budget. The potential for villains though is ridiculous for any new movie or sequel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyuT5Lge_-Y

     2. Dreamscape. 1984. Before Inception and A Nightmare on Elm Street, there was Dreamscape. Dreamscape is about a psychic who is tricked into  using his mind to attempt to assassinate people. Along the way he befriends a little boy whose nightmares are so severe that  they caused a previous psychic to lose his mind.
     Great chance to make some really creepy dream sequences, big budget dream sequences. This could be The Cell meets Inception, meets A Nightmare on Elm Street meets The Matrix.

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCrtOAC-wsE

     1. Night of the Comet. 1984. Sarcazmo loves last people on earth movies. The closest Hollywood has ever gotten to getting one right though is The Omega Man. The Omega Man  had serious problems....namely its lack of action. Night of the Comet is in the same vein...two girls survive a comet and have an entire city to roam free, only theres the occasional half zombie running aorund out there that tries to kill anything in its path.  Its a great fun idea, except for the fact that they stay in a boring radio station for a large part of the movie...this was probably due to budget. 

      Caz would remake this with the big budget it deserves. Numerous shots of desolete abandoned city. Loads of half zombies. Many a scene of the girls having fun in the city (shopping, games, golf, bowling, drinking, driving fast cars). Said girls would be armed with many guns and know how to shoot them...they could be ex cops. When the goverment baddies show up, I would stage a HUGE chase scene racing thru the city, then thru stores, then thru a mall, then on foot...epic.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_sJDW19UZA