Imagine Entertainment is looking to bring George Orwell‘s dystopian classic, 1984, to the big screen.
Shepard Fairey may not be a household name, but chances are you have caught a glimpse of his ‘Hope’ poster that was a staple in the campaign for Barack Obama’s presidential race in 2008. If you’re into documentaries, you may have also seen him in Exit Though The Gift Shop, which was released in 2010.
Fairey has partnered with Ron Howard and Brian Grazer‘s Imagine Entertainment to attain the rights to the Orwell novel. They will be working to transform it for its first theatrical appearance since, coincidentally, 1984. The most recent adaptation starred John Hurt and Richard Burton.
For the uninitiated, the book is about a middle-class worker with intentions of rebelling against the status-quo and the faceless “Big Brother.”
1984 is a well-known novel that has had a profound impact on society as is. It will be increasingly difficult to establish an updated storyline for ir without disappointing fans of the text. We recently saw the Blockbuster flop that was John Carter experience the same dilemma. Even though it was artfully updated, it failed to live up to expectations.
Are audiences ready for a new vision of 1984? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.