The Thing - The Prequel
 

September 12, 2008


Producer Marc Abraham tells Latino Review that he and John Carpenter are still developing a sequel to “The Thing” – only it’s not so much a sequel, as it is a prequel and the events of it will play out concurrently time-wise with the first film.

Now that’s new – in every interview he’s given, Carpenter’s referred to the project as a “sequel”.

"This is more of a prequel than a sequel, there is your exclusive. Its going to be taking place in the same time frame”, says Abraham, who’d obviously know.

The site says they asked Abraham if we are going to find out the origins of the alien and it landing on earth and he said:

“These are the events leading up to the 1982 film.”

Seems we’ll find out what happened to the Norwegian team. Finally.

And will CGI see the return of Kurt Russell’s character? Doubtful, but how cool would that be!?

ending the prequal with footage from the original could be cool...

no Kurt Russell = no point.

Better than a remake, but still pointless.

No kurt russel OR Keith David...

Russell skids his car into snowbank, releasing alien invasion in ...Thing Proof.

Nobody really cared that James Arness didn't appear in Carpenter's version. I liked both prior versions, the acting and atmosphere were great. Only thing I didn't like about 'em was the Thing. The first was just a big bald guy(Arness) in murky long shots. The second was a vaselined rubber mess ala Nightmare on Elm Street FX. So I'm not TOO opposed to a remake(or prequel), if the style is close to the 1st 2 with a better creature.

Sounds pretty much just like what they did with the game a few years back.

If i recall, the game was very well recieved.

I am a little intrigued actually. I always wanted to know what happened to that other crew.

The Thing was '82. Nightmare was '84. So shouldn't Nightmare on Elm Street be using a "vaselined rubber mess" a la The Thing?

Anyway, the one thing that has me pumped: The possibility of more Thing-dogs!

Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. is in talks to direct The Thing prequel for Strike and Universal Pictures, although there's no official confirmation on this yet.

Heijningen has already been attached to direct Army of the Dead for Zack Snyder's Strike Entertainment.

Something else which is interesting is that its been leaked that van Heijningen is pushing to make the lead character none other than R.J. Macready's brother!

(As you all know, R.J. Macready was played by Kurt Russell in John Carpenter's remake from 1982)

As of right now this should be taken as rumor as nothing is set in stone.

Synopsis: "In the screenplay by Ronald D. Moore, the prequel takes place from the Norwegian camps point of view. An American scientific expedition to the frozen wastes of the Antarctic is interrupted by a group of seemingly mad Norwegians pursuing and shooting a dog.

The helicopter pursuing the dog crashes leaving no explanation for the chase.

During the night, the dog mutates and attacks other dogs in the cage and members of the team that investigate. The team soon realize that an alien life-form with the ability to take over bodies is on the loose and they don't know who may already have been taken over."

Too much CGI might ruin it.

the are two words that might make me interested in seeing this one:
Rob Bottin

The reviews that i read for the game were positive. I brought the game and couldn't get anywhere in it, even with a walkthrough guide. It is a strategy/ horror survival game. I only like straight shooters. The film has to be one of the most scary ever. I would like to see a prequel. Considering how long ago the original was made, i don't care if Kurt isn't in it or not.

bring it on

how would YOU make this film good/scary/different from the original?

different from the original is easy, give the things guns. Haha. Good and scary is harder.

I think the issue with the winter storm should be removed. If the weather is no longer a threat you can involve more of antarticas wildlife: fish, whales, sharks, seals, arctic terns, and penguins. I would also like to see more aliens, according to the 1982 version it should be able to multiply fairly easily, not to mention the gigantic ship it flew in on was probably occupied by more than one alien. I was always under the impression that the Norweigan crew was there looking for the ship. If that was true, there more than likely would be troops involved,hence, automatic weaponery and explosions. If this were the case, the feeling of isolation could be acheived in a similar fashion to The Abyss, where noones going to come pick you up till you get the job done.

All you see is the smoldering debri of the Norweigan camp, when out bursts a giant walrus with crab legs and three shark heads, and the whole thing is on fire! Characters come into view, two with rifles and three with home-made flamethrowers, each firing on the monster. A large mouth-like tear in the monsters chest opens and an intestine like pile of tentacles pours out. One of the flamethrowers begans leaking fuel, and it's user catches fire. Another is mauled or bitten in two by the still burning creature. The monster runs a short distance and collapses dead(on fire). The man on fire has stopped-dropped-and rolled himself out, he's horribaly burned but alive. He desperately needs medical attention and is carried to one of two helicopters to be flown to a larger camp.

White fur emerges from the pile of tentacle guts, four legs sprout out and the shapeless creature runs off still changing,tell tale tentacles still flailing. Remaining members prepare the second helicopter to hunt down the monster.

Then we go back to the burn victim helicopter, it's aproaching a large populated base. We see the pilot and co-pilots faces, behind them the burn victim is sitting up quitely. Camera pans down to show tentacles protruding from both pilots chests operating the controls.

not bad, Milktoaste:D

I'm hearing ;ts of rumblings around town about this one - nothing specific, just rumors and whispers that tend to conflict with each other.

But word is that they may be doing a straight remake now

I'd prefer to see a sequel and treat it like ALIENS, not a knock-off of the original, but something that weaves a more action-packed story through the same world.

Yeh an Aliens styled Thing flick would fuckin' rule.

I hope not



Theres certainly room for expansion similar to Aliens. A military rescue mission discover the frozen corpses of Childs and Macready, one of which is the Thing etc etc

The Thing
 

hmmm....I'm gonna go for Prequel rather than a Remake or Sequel. I don't know, I just don't always trust Sequels or Remakes these days.....i.e. Micheal Bay

Michael Bay makes prequels too Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

I prefer a sequel.

A sequel takes the story and moves it forward, which is fine in my book - as long as it actually does move the story forward and not just repeat the previos film(s) over and over (Saw series... I'm looking at you).

I was thinking about it, and I'd rather see 'them' take the story in whole new bizzar directions than to see a remake. Put the Thing in the jungle like in Preditor, or in the ocean like The Abyss. Then I suppose it wouldn't really be The Thing, and 'they' could name it something else.

Throw in a Terminator, Wolverine, Goku and Wonder Woman, maybe some boobs too. I'm sorry, I've had more than a few beers.

This certainly wouldn't be a sequel to the Thing, but its a movie I would pay to see!:D

Executive producer Ronald D. Moore recently chatted about his in-development remake/reboot of the John Carpenter classic The Thing.

First off, Moore notes that writing a feature for a studio (Universal in this case) is a very different beast than running a TV show.

"I did my drafts," he says. "They were happy. They have a director and, you know, it's the feature world and I'm not the key player so we just wait and see if they're going to greenlight it or not. I'm not the chef. I'm the short-order cook who comes in and does my thing and we'll see what they want to serve."

That director is Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., who is also attached to helm the zombie project Army of the Dead for producer Zack Snyder (Watchmen).

Additionally, Moore points out that the new film will not be a sequel or a reboot to the Carpenter film but more of a contemporary, of a sort, of the 1982 flick.

"Well, it's not a remake," he says. "It's really a companion piece to the Carpenter version. We're telling the story of the Norwegian camp that found the Thing before the Kurt Russell group did, so it's very buried in the continuity [and] it's supposed to be the other story that you saw part of. So we didn't want to reinvent it. It was really much the opposite. We really wanted to have this flow seamlessly into what he did."

Eric Heisserer, who is in the process of rewriting Ronald D. Moore's draft of The Thing (and also rewrote the reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street), the forthcoming prequel/reboot that's being helmed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr reveals in an interview who the main character could be, along with details on how they plan on referencing the original film in the new one.

Heisserer tells that he is still working on his draft of THE THING, which he says could go into production as early as January 2010.

“[I’m working on it] as we speak, that’s why I have my laptop here,” he tells on the set of New Line Cinema's A Nightmare on Elm Street reboot back in July.

Some early rumors were that the prequel would follow the brother of R.J. MacReady, who was played by Kurt Russell in the first film.

“That was certainly a character in Ronald Moore’s draft,” he explains. “I can’t comment on whether or not were going to keep that going forward.”

One of the best parts about making a prequel is that a writer gets to really dissect the first film in order to construct a backstory.

“It’s a really fascinating way to construct a story because were doing it by autopsy, by examining very, very closely everything we know about the Norwegian camp and about the events that happened there from photos and video footage that’s recovered,” he continues, “from a visit to the base, the director, producer and I have gone through it countless times marking, you know, there’s a fire axe in the door, we have to account for that…were having to reverse engineer it, so those details all matter to us ‘cause it all has to make sense.”

“We explain how it got there,” he continues referring to the axe, adding that he found a way to bring suspense back to the film. “We’re finding so much from Carpenter’s movie that you think you’ve seen, but in actually it allows us to come up with certain twists on what we have that will allow people to be on the edge of their seat, and not know who’s going to make it and who’s not.”

In the screenplay by Ronald D. Moore that Eric is rewriting, the prequel takes place from the Norwegian camps point of view. An American scientific expedition to the frozen wastes of the Antarctic is interrupted by a group of seemingly mad Norwegians pursuing and shooting a dog. The helicopter pursuing the dog crashes leaving no explanation for the chase. During the night, the dog mutates and attacks other dogs in the cage and members of the team that investigate. The team soon realizes that an alien life form with the ability to take over bodies is on the loose and they don't know who may already have been taken over.

After years and years of development and speculation, Universal Pictures' prequel to John Carpenter's classic thriller The Thing is due to begin filming March and continue till June in Toronto, reports Production Weekly.

Unless there have been top secret changes behind the curtain, Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. will be directing from a screenplay by Ronald D. Moore and Eric Heisserer (A Nightmare on Elm Street).

Moore's script takes place from the Norwegian camps point of view. An American scientific expedition to the frozen wastes of the Antarctic is interrupted by a group of seemingly mad Norwegians pursuing and shooting a dog. The helicopter pursuing the dog crashes leaving no explanation for the chase. During the night, the dog mutates and attacks other dogs in the cage and members of the team that investigate. The team soon realize that an alien life-form with the ability to take over bodies is on the loose and they don't know who may already have been taken over.

No word on how much was changed by Heisserer.

Please tell me that that synopsis was a joke. That can't be right!

Writer Ronald D. Moore told us the following about the project back in March -

"It's really a companion piece to the Carpenter version. We're telling the story of the Norwegian camp that found the Thing before the Kurt Russell group did, so it's very buried in the continuity [and] it's supposed to be the other story that you saw part of. So we didn't want to reinvent it. It was really much the opposite. We really wanted to have this flow seamlessly into what he did."

Can't say I am overly excited by the prospect of this film. Not sure a prequel is really required. One of the many great aspects of The Thing is the fact that you are essentially watching what happened to the Norwegians through the experiances of the US group. You don't really need a prequel to fill in the blanks. The only story to tell is the one you've already told. Can't say I like the idea of bringing MacReady's brother into the story either. Can't really see it making much sense without alot of unnecessary explanation.

I'll probably give it a watch all the same, just rather see an original take on the story than a rehash of a classic that was done exceptionally well. In that respect I'd rather see a remake than prequel, at least that way they have more freedom. Maybe they can blend elements of the original story/ film with Carpenter's version to make something work, the whole idea just doesn't sit right with me though, but I'd be happy to be proved wrong.

Ultimatley, I'd also much rather see Carpenter do the sequel that has been mentioned in the past, with Kurt Russell & Keith David reprising their roles.

That sounds even less appealing than a prequel. What's it going to be? 30 minutes of them freezing to death then roll credits? Plus Carpenter has sucked for over 20 years. The last good thing he did was They Live, back in 1988.

Anytime a sequel is made it seems to rock the boat of the traditionalist, but I would be interested to see how they change what happened with the US group and modify it to make it more interesting for the Norwegian group. Because if they do the "same" thing it would not be a sequel or a prequel but in fact a remake just with Norwegians. So they will need to figure out how to make this work to keep attention.

John Carpenter needs to step up and make this a challenge, and to be honest it's been awhile for him. So is he up to it?

I'd take a 30 minuite sequel of MacReady & Childs freezing to death over a prequel about the Norwegian camp. Might well work and I'd be glad to say I was wrong, I just don't think the prequel idea suits this film. I'd rather see a sequel or straight remake, personally.

I'd rather see nothing. Most remakes/reboots can sometimes make sense. Better technology, the story can be fleshed out more, etc. I'm of the opinion that The Thing is 100% solid as is. A prequel or sequel would realistically just be more of the same. The Thing gets found in the ice. It thaws. Havok ensues, but maybe just in a different language. The prequel, if it meshes with The Thing will probably be much the same as The Thing. A research team finds the saucer and the thing. It gets thawed out. Bloody mayhem ensues. Screams in funny sounding Norwegian ring out across the tundra. Or more than likely the actors will all be American, speak English, but just have Norwegian flags on their gear. The only way to make a sequel different would be to pull a Jason Takes Manhattan and have the Thing get transported to an urban center. Would either scenario actually add anything to the story? Not really. The prequel has already been explained quite fully in the original movie. Sure it might be cool to see it as a movie, but we all know how it will end. Everyone dead at the camp with the lone two survivors chasing a wold across the snowfields. The sequel idea is just a cash grab as far as I'm concerned. It would entail shoehorning a storyline onto a story that was already completed and would probably be just as effective as Jason Takes Manhattan.

I'll take it.

Universal Pictures’ prequel to John Carpenter’s cult classic thriller The Thing is gearing up to begin shooing in Toronto in mid-March, and the studio has begun to announce the cast line-up.

Heat Vision has learned that Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Grindhouse, Scott Pilgrim) and Joel Edgerton (The Secret Life of Us, Kinky Boots) have been cast as the leads.

The screenplay, which was written by Ronald D. Moore, and rewritten by Eric Heisserer, tells the story of a shape-shifting alien terrorizes researchers at a Norwegian Antarctic facility. Here’s the logline:

Winstead will play Kate Lloyd, who was described in the leaked casting breakdowns as follows:

Edgerton will play Sam Carter, a blue-collar mercenary helicopter pilot who Lloyd is forced to team with in an effort to stop the rampage. Here is his casting breakdown:

And it seems as if there is a third lead character who has yet to be cast. Here is the breakdown:

Matthijs Van Hejningen is set to direct.

Oh my god! I Always thought of a prequel but didn't know it's in the works!

It doesn't stand a chance
 

It'll be judged harshley from my camp I can guarantee it