http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117901831?categoryid=13
A more fleshed out article at Cinescape
http://www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Movies&action=page&type_id=&cat_id=270338&obj_id=41083

For the Love of God, NOOOOOOO!!!!
Must they "Re-Imagine" EVERY good movie ever made?
Must Tom Cruise express his Messianic self-image by saving something (Our Rights / Japan / Britain) (Minority Report / Last Samurai / his upcoming Battle of Britain flick) in EVERY movie he makes?
Thank God I have the original on DVD...
Sorry Tom, but the original film is pretty much unassailable and won't benefit from a retelling.
Sorry Steve, but the original's effects are STILL spectacular; NO WAY could anyone design a better Martian War Machine.

---Da Sarge

Must they "Re-Imagine" EVERY good movie ever made?
Ironically, Cruise and Speilberg are planning to "re-imagine" this movie back to Well's original book.

"War of the Worlds" may be a good movie with good effects but it's also very deserving of the phrase "based upon the book by H.G. Wells." I, for one, can't wait to see Well's original story brought to the screen properly, in all its Victorian English splendor and with real tripod war machines.

Jim

Wellll.... Now that I've taken a deep breath I realize that a 'true-to-the-book' WotW could be REALLY cool.
It's just the Tom Cruise thing that spooks me. Cruise has gone out of the way to make almost every character he's done since 'Mission Impossible' into a bigger-than-life uber-hero, whether it's justified by the source material for or not. I just hope that Spielberg can keep him in check; WotW had a protagonist, not a hero. The bacteria were the heroes in the end...
---Da Sarge

It's just the Tom Cruise thing that spooks me. Cruise has gone out of the way to make almost every character he's done since 'Mission Impossible' into a bigger-than-life uber-hero, whether it's justified by the source material for or not.

The lead character in Wells' WOTW was a journalist. He performs no feats of derring-do. He just observes. It's the story that makes the difference. Late 19th century England really felt that they were top nation and could beat anybody (which is why the story worked in 1950's USA). If Spielberg can get Cruise to act and resist making the character into an action figure, it'll be OK. OK, we can hope.

Jim

So true--- Hoping, Hoping...
I'm also DYING to see what Spielberg has in mind for the Martians and their Fighting Machines (always liked the depiction on the album jacket for Jeff Wayne's musical, soimething along those lines would be very cool IMHO).
Let's just hope that Spielberg can lay the smackdown on Cruise if he starts acting up (like the bit at the beginning of Goldmember--- "Well, my friend here says..."). I'm also hoping against hope that they get Cruise a good dialect coach...
---Da Sarge

I'm also hoping against hope that they get Cruise a good dialect coach.
They'll probably make the character an American journalist living in London - which I could accept.

Jim

Did you see in the same set of articles that "Assault on Precinct 13" is being remade as well? "Assault' is great as it was, a low budget sleeper that developed a cult following because of some great performance and some then-revolutionary action sequences. John Carpenter has aleady remade/borrowed scenes from it in the truly abyssmal "Ghost of Mars'.

I really don't understand Hollywood's thinking on remakes, a perfect example is "Walking Tall", I haven't seen it, but the trailers make it clear that is has nothing but the title in common with the original movie. The whole sheriff-cleaning-up-the-little-hick-town premise of the original seems jettisoned, if they wanted to make a Rock starring action flick, I have no problem with that, but why call it "Walking Tall", especially since the original was based on a true story? This remake bothers me more than most because I actually got to met Buford Pusser at a "Meet-the-Memphis-Tigers" autograph PR thing when I was a kid in Memphis, he seemed like a nice guy, he talked with my grandfather for quite awhile,signed a few things for me and let my grandfather take some pictures of me with him,all I honestly really remember where his scars were pretty intimidating. He died shortly after that. wish I had kept that football!

Back on topic, George Pal's version is a classic, but it might be interesting to see what a more faithful-to-the-book version would be like. However, I didn't think "Minority Report" was as great as most reviewers and audiences did, and am a little dubious about the next Cruise-Spielberg project.

I wasn't a big fan of the last Spielberg/Cruise teaming "Minority Report." But I've gotta admit that I'm looking forward to this one!

One can only hope that Cruise plays an American journalist! I remember going to see 'Far And Away' in the theater and just dying laughing everytime he opened his mouth. His Irish accent was just incredibly bad--- stereotypical and forced. I just kept waiting for him to say that Nicole Kidman of was "Always After Me Frosted Lucky Charms..."
That being said, Minority Report wasn't too bad--- a little heavy on the CGI but the story was interesting. Didn't quite live up to Bladerunner though; to me, THAT's what an adaptation of a PK Dick story should feel like.
---Da Sarge

Tom Cruise is a modestly talented actor who gives 110% every time out. Unfortunately, that 110% ain't nearly enough - about 50% of the time.

ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 doesn't need remaking, the film is solid low-budget entertainment. Any gussying up will probably hurt it.

As for Cruise ... the guy is just the kiss of death for me in almost everything. The only pics I've ever liked with him in it are usually when he isn't the lead (TAPS, COLOR OF MONEY), and, for some reason, the first MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, which was, as expected, the Tom Cruise show, but at least it had some twists. There's a sameness to the guy that just poisons the movies for me.

As much as I've always wanted to see a Wells-based WoW (I really LOVE the Jeff Wayne Rock opera of WoW, the one with David Essex and Richard Burton, from the 70s), there's no way I'll see this (then again, I just realized I have only seen two movies theatrically during first-run in the last 10 months anyway, so it ain't likely I'd have gone even if it had an adequate performer in the lead.)

How would a three legged thing walk anyhow?

For me Cruise's best films were:

Risky Business
Jerry McGuire
Rain Man
Top Gun (That's right! Top Gun! I liked it and I ain't ashamed!) http://smilies.jeeptalk.org/otn/tongue/rude.gif

How would a three legged thing walk anyhow?

Carefully.

Nothing holds a candle to da Brooklyn Little Theater's Production of "DA WAR OF DA WOILDS!"
Why even try?

if they wanted to make a Rock starring action flick, I have no problem with that

Yeah, but I have to wonder why Hollywood keeps trying to make a star out of the Rock... :lol:

I seriously hope that Speilberg and Cruise stick to the Wells' storyline. the first half of "Minority Report" was good, when it dealt with society's future and how tampering with the "psychic connection" would undermine the whole basis of allowing such a unit. I lost interest during the second half, once the story became about Tom Cruise's character.

José

cruise and speilburg, war of the worlds. i can just see how that would've gotten the bimbos (male and female) in the studio executive offices all aquiver with their eyes gleaming.... but i have an looming sense of dread about the whole thing.

The bacteria were the heroes in the end...

Well, you could have used the spoiler thing - now I know the ending!! ;)

I thought it had been "re-imagined" as ID4.

UPDATE

Officially a go.
David Koepp script.
Aiming for release next summer.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000610919

Walking Tall remake. Dud.
Alamo remake. Dud.
Thunderbirds 'remake' . Dud.
Catwoman 'refreshened'. Dud.
Time Machine remade. Dud.
But this one will be different. It wil have super cool cgi, big names, and a surprise twist at the end.

What? Like Orson Wells as the radio Announcer?

Perhaps the war machines hover and the legs just guide them along, kind of like a gondola and pilot.

Maybe like the little walking animation on the credits of "The Computer That Wore Tennis Shoes"... I *think* that was the one...

Ooh. I like that!

Wellll.... Now that I've taken a deep breath I realize that a 'true-to-the-book' WotW could be REALLY cool.
It's just the Tom Cruise thing that spooks me. Cruise has gone out of the way to make almost every character he's done since 'Mission Impossible' into a bigger-than-life uber-hero, whether it's justified by the source material for or not. I just hope that Spielberg can keep him in check; WotW had a protagonist, not a hero. The bacteria were the heroes in the end...
---Da Sarge
You mean Cruise was actually playing different characters in all his films?
Oh, to me they all seemed like the same guy with a different name. My bad :D

well im not a cruise fan but his lestat showd me his range was greater than i had thought.

i still dread the potential of this movie