Ving Rhames playing the same character he did in the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake. The is a big flying "Huh?" in the face of continuity, especially since the screenwriter of the DAY remake said he was following the scenario of Romero's original pretty closely. Not to mention it also contradicts what we see at the end of the DAWN remake. We'll see. It starts shooting in a few weeks. Also signed is Mira Sorvino.

http://www.dreadcentral.com/index.php?name...=article&sid=30

The article mentions that Ving might not be playing the same character. In DAWN, wasn't he on his way to find his brother? Maybe in Steve Miner's DAY OF THE DEAD, he'll be playing said brother.

Vincent

That's funny...before I even clicked on the thread, I thought to myself it'd probably be Ving.

How 'bout Steve Zahn as Rhodes?

I was hoping for either Peter Greene or Duane Whitaker.

Good call Vincent. Maybe he will be the brother. If so the world of the survivors just got pretty small.

To steal a line from the bloody broadway play The Lieutenant of Inishmore...
"Does it ever end?!?" :rolleyes:

Would it even be allowable for Vig Rhames to play the same character or anyone that references Universal's DAWN OF THE DEAD since the DAY OF THE DEAD remake is from Taurus?

Since they never actually referred to his brother by name in DotD, you could pretty much just slap Ving in a uniform and have him drop a line about his brother never making it to the base before they had to bail, and you're good to go.

James Karen as Dr. Logan?

Your timing was perfect! Although I rather like Sorvino, I laughed out loud.

We can only pray. That would be awesome.

As for Sorvino, I'm wasn't kidding...she really is signed to be in this!

Oh my. I thought this was a small production, through Taurus. I'm assuming they're aiming for a majour release, here?

Oh, I know, William - it was just such a beguiling post-script, is all.

I'm not really sure about this but wasn't the original DAY OF THE DEAD a box office bomb?

Now I love DAY OF THE DEAD - in fact, its probably my favorite of the Romero bunch but I'm surprised they're "remaking" it using basically the same formula as the original...

But maybe audiences are "ready" for it now like maybe they weren't in 1985...???

According to Boxofficemojo , it made $5 million. The widest release was 168 theatres; I guess not being rated hurt it.

Here's a list of zombie movies 1980-present for comparison. Though I don't know if Death Becomes Her is really a zombie movie...

Dark Horizons lists the following people as being in the cast as well:

Mena Suvari, Michael Welch, Annalynne McCord, Stark Sands, and Nick Cannon

Nick Freakin' Cannon? Well, I guess I can scratch this one off the list.

I'm sure all of this has more to do with the financial success of the DAWN remake more than anything.

Didn't they already remake Day of the Dead last year or two years ago, around the same time as the Dawn remake? I remember it getting really terrible reviews and skipping it. Am I confusing this with something else?

You might be thinking of the "official" DAY OF THE DEAD sequel called DAY OF THE DEAD: CONTAGIUM. It was actually made by the rights holder Taurus and apparently sucks big time. I've heard it is so bad that even John Russo said he didn't want to be associated with it.

Well, Fangoria got the scoop and Ving Rhames will be playing the Rhodes character. Hero in one film, villain in the other? Yeah, I'm scratching my head too. And it appears that Mena Survari is the female lead and not Mira Sorvino. I can see how those two names can get confused.

http://www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=2339

Rhames as Rhodes? I dunno...don't really see him as the type comfortable chewing the scenery. He always came across as if someone has just nailed him in the back of the head with a two-by-four and he's taking his time considering just how to make that person pay.

Not a bad thing, just that he seems too in control to play out of control. We'll see, or maybe they're just taking Rhodes in a different direction.

Oh yeah; that's definitely what I was thinking of. Well, let's hope this remake is at least better than that sequel (though, to be fair, I haven't seen it).

Joe Pilato's performance in DAY was the one performance in that film that I didn't like (WAY too one-note), so I'm interested in seeing how Ving handles the part.

Vincent

"I'ma call a coupla hard, pipe-hittin' zombies, who'll go to work on the homes here with a pair of pliers and a blow torch."

Oh William, come on, it's not like Ving will be WRITING the actual dialogue...

:)

Vincent

Given the writng credentials of the guy doing the DAY remake, I kinda wish Ving would write the dialogue.

Wow - Ving wrote his own dialogue for PULP FICTION? He rulez!!!!!

Craig, buddy - you solved it! Hit the nail on the back of the head, as it were...

And they thought it was where his soul left his body...

The trailer has arrived (in Quicktime):

http://www.nuimage.net/film_library_detail...9-E17CF94B08FA}

Well, there are military folks in it.

"It's a bad day to be a zombie!"

Ouch.

it looks more like "outbreak" with zombies

or "the crazies" with zombies

or "impulse" with zombies

or...

This trailer sucks. Is there ANY story at all?

It looks like they're attemtping to supply an "origin" story for what happens in the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake.

Vincent

The poster seems awfully similar to the video art for LAND OF THE DEAD, in the font and color of the title, central "hand" image, and the colors used. But then, a remake of a second sequel from the director of H20 isn't proudly proclaiming originality anyway...




Or, maybe the makers of NYC's Chiller Theater should sue?

What really surprised me about the trailer is how cheap the movie looked. It almost looked like a Sci-Fi Channel movie. Steve Miner has, at the very least, made decent looking horror movies in the past.

What's the budget on this compared to the DAWN remake (which was something over $20-million I believe)? Is Universal releasing DAY like they did DAWN?

While I'm usually not one to pre-judge a movie based on an early trailer, what really struck me (and not in a good way) about this DAY OF THE DEAD trailer was how much it reminded me of an 80s slasher flick. I.E., a young couple finds an abandoned, creepy place to screw around, the stupid bit of dialogue between the young male and female soldiers re: spending the night together, etc. Is Miner trying to recapture his FRIDAY THE 13TH days or what?

On the other hand, there were some neat images- I like that shot of the zombies jumping en masse out of the upper floor windows of that building, and the zombies themselves look pretty neat.

I'll reserve judgment until I see the actual film, but I do hope the whole turns out to be better than this trailer makes it look.

Vincent

The budget for this was $18 million.

I know it's a staple of how these boring trailers are constructed nowadays, but all I could focus on while watching this one was 'SWOOSH'. That, of course, is the sound that's laid on top of every edit from one shot to the next. There sure were a lot of swooshes here!

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.

Well, here is the first review of this "remake." As expected from the trailer (at least by me), it is very bad. The reviewer states it has little to do with Romero's film (surprise, surprise) and that Bub is now Bud. Ouch.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/32568

18 mil is a little (ahem) high for a zombie flick, doncha think? Especially for one shot in Bulgaria. The remake of Dawn pulled in some decent BO, but that was a fluke. Otherwise, zombie flicks (and I love 'em) consistently pull in pretty low numbers.

28 DAYS LATER was also quite successful. There have only been three recent big zombie releases that I can think of- 28 DAYS LATER, DAWN OF THE DEAD, and LAND OF THE DEAD, and of the three, only LAND underperformed at the box-office, and even it had a decent opening weekend.

Vincent

Well, yeah. And Resident Evil did well enough to spawn a franchise...and it's the only one to sink some serious money into production. But there was serious crossover action behind that investment. Otherwise zombie flicks are sort of a crap-shoot with loaded dice.

One of the reasons the remake of Dawn did so well is that it maintained a basic fidelity to the source material and kept the self-aware humor down to a modest degree. It set out to deliver with the dread, not the chucks.

Throw something like a vegetarian zombie into the mix, and it puts out the vibe that the filmmakers (and I'm surprised that someone like Steve Miner didn't realize this) aren't all to respectful of the genre.

So this has been sitting on the shelf for a year or so now and is finally getting a DTV release in April '08.

http://www.dreadcentral.com/node/25730

Wow - considering that DAY must have had some sort of semi-reasonable budget, and that Steve Miner can ape slick H'wood product without breaking a sweat, how bad must this be for Universal to not pony up for a cursory theatrical campaign to follow up on a minor breakout hit?

Or is it really that bad out there for uninspired studio exploitation these days? If they can't get (or it's not worth it to them to get) a $5 million opening weekend for the likes of this - if DTV is truly the more profitable venture - then how long before more desirable movies go this route?

Think we'll see a DTV/PPV Coen brothers movie within a few years?