Shall we play another game? Not that we have much of a choice – MGM is moving full steam ahead with a remake of the 1983 cult classic WarGames.
Dean Israelite, who made his feature directorial debut on next January’s anticipated sci-fi Project Almanac, is in final negotiations to helm the film for MGM. He’s been the top contender for a few months, ever since Seth Gordons stepped away from the project. Additionally, we’ve learned that The Fault in Our Stars and Mud breakouts Ansel Elgort and Tye Sheridan (respectively) are currently atop MGM’s shortlist to lead the movie.
Both actors are highly in demand at the moment. Elgort is currently filming Divergent sequel Insurgent for Summit Entertainment, and he also recently locked down the starring role in Cold War-set biopic Van Cliburn. And for his part, Sheridan has upcoming films Grass Stains, Dark Places, The Forger and Last Days in the Desert in the can, is currently shooting Paramount’s horror-comedy Scouts vs. Zombies and is rumored to have a role in red-hot YA adaptation The 5th Wave, opposite Chloe Grace Moretz. There’s no telling whether either of them will even have time in their schedules for WarGames, but we certainly hope that they can make it work.
Arash Amel (Grace of Monaco, the announced I Am Legend 2) will scribe WarGames, which is expected to follow a brilliant teenage hacker who accidentally sets off a virus that becomes determined to destroy the world’s computer systems. Updating the story from its original Cold War setting was surely one of MGM’s requirements for remaking the film – but will a modern-day WarGames work, especially with the advent of cyber warfare and fears of a widespread, virtual terrorist attack? MGM may be having trouble with that aspect of the remake, as Noah Oppenheim (The Maze Runner) and Zak Penn (The Incredible Hulk) wrote previous drafts with which the studio wasn’t satisfied.
Regardless, WarGames is happening. We’ll keep you posted as MGM locks down a lead.