Dwayne Johnson is probably at the height of his powers right now. He’s coming off a $53 million opening for San Andreas, the best showing for a movie that he headlined himself. Later this month, his HBO series Ballers will premiere.
The Rock is riding the wave of that success and seems ready to test the strength of his popularity by taking on a beloved cult classic. As reported Monday by The Wrap’s Jeff Sneider, Johnson is close to locking up a deal to star in and produce a remake of 1986’s Big Trouble in Little China.
The original movie — directed by John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russell and Kim Cattrall — was not a theatrical hit, grossing just $11 million dollars at the box office. But the story of a trucker who ends up embroiled in an underground, mystical Chinatown feud lived on affectionately among fans through home video and cable TV reruns. One of those devotees is Johnson, who used his current clout to meet with 20th Century Fox and score the rights to a remake.
No director has yet been named for the project, but Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz (Thor, X-Men: First Class) are attached as screenwriters.
Johnson can definitely fill the action star shoes first worn by Kurt Russell as Big Trouble in Little China’s main character, Jack Burton. He should have no trouble invoking the cheesy feel of older movie stars. We know he can be funny. But part of the original film’s appeal was the pulp tone Carpenter infused the film with. Getting rid of that in a modernized version would probably be a mistake.
However, as Poltergeist just demonstrated, audiences don’t seem very interested in a remake of a film considered a valued part of our pop culture upbringings. And if this new Big Trouble in Little China has nothing new to say, nothing more to add other than Johnson’s presence, is it really worth doing?
