Although original filmmaker Roland Emmerich has been attached to a Stargate remake since 2013, according to his writing/producing partner Dean Devlin (via Empire), a new take on the 1994 hit is no longer in the cards.
“It looked good for a couple of months, but now it’s not looking so good,” said Devlin. “There are just a lot of things that have to fire at the same time, and there was a moment where I thought it was all firing at the same time, and then it all kind of fell apart.”
While there can be no doubt that Independence Day: Resurgence underperforming at the box office contributed to the collapse of the project, Devlin also underscores the harsh realities of making a blockbuster in the current Hollywood climate.
“It’s one of the reasons I prefer to work independently,” Devlin remarks. “Listen, I think if we did ‘Stargate’ right, the fans would like it and we could do something really good. But if we screw it up, they’ll reject it. As they should. But I kind of don’t want to do it if I think that we’ll screw it up, and that’s one of the things that’s holding us back. You’d have several studios involved and a lot of voices and, you know, you may make something great, but you also may have something that doesn’t resemble what you wanted to do. That kind of ‘collaboration’ is a terrifying aspect of the whole thing.”
Plans previously called for a rebooted Stargate feature film trilogy, which screenwriters James A. Woods and Nicolas Wright of Independence Day: Resurgence had signed on to provide the screenplay for last year.
Word of a Stargate reboot first broke in 2013 when Emmerich said that he and creative partner Dean Devlin approached MGM about building a reboot trilogy. Emmerich co-wrote and directed the original 1994 film, which starred Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson and Alexis Cruz. Devlin was attached to produce the new take, which was being developed by MGM and Warner Bros. Pictures.
At the time of its release, Stargate grossed nearly $200 million at the global box office. The franchise has since spawned three live-action television spin-offs, one animated series and two direct-to-DVD feature films.
