Sometimes, the trades will announce a new feature film that you never, ever saw coming, and the news that Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino (fresh off directing Marvel’s Werewolf by Night) will helm a remake of the 1954 giant ant movie Them! for Warner Bros. certainly counts as one of those kinda announcements.
Says Deadline, who broke the story last night:
“Oscar-winning Up composer Michael Giacchino will make his big-screen directing debut with a reboot of the 1954 sci-fi man-eating monster movie Them! at Warner Bros. Giacchino is meeting with writers in hopes of getting the production up quite soon.”
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Gordon Douglas-directed original, Them! concerned a nest of gigantic, irradiated ants being discovered in the New Mexico desert. Two of the ants, young queens, escape their habitat in the hopes of setting up new colonies, which results in all hell breaking loose and eventually spilling over into the streets of Los Angeles. It’s the quintessential 1950’s B-movie, the sort of thing you might be surprised to learn that William Castle didn’t direct.
Says Giacchino:
“There’s always a movie in your mind that never leaves your head. For me, that’s Them! It wasn’t until much later in life until I learned what it was about — the nuclear age.”
He adds:
“What I love about Them! is exactly what it’s called: Them! It’s about the other, the unknown which one refuses or can’t understand. The current version of Them! is about immigration, and to tell a story about the subject through a lens of this insane science fiction monster movie.”
Given how thoroughly Giacchino knocked Werewolf by Night outta the park for Marvel, it’s hard not to be excited about this! A new giant insects movie, brought to life with modern technology by a guy who’s a dyed-in-the-wool geek for this sorta monster movie mayhem. We’re just as curious to see which screenwriter lands this particular job as we are to see the final product.
Nothing further to report on Them! at this time, but we will of course be keeping our ear to the ground for further updates as it works its way through production. Stay tuned for those, folks.
