It seems like every Stephen King adaptation is getting remade nowadays. Revamped versions of It and Pet Semetary both hit theaters within the past several years, with the reimagining of both It: Chapter Two and Salem’s Lot also on the way. One particular film, however, should definitely not get brought back. According to famed scream queen Dee Wallace, any thought of resurrecting Cujo would be a very bad idea.
Despite being the star of the original cult classic, the 70-year-old actress has no interest in seeing and/or taking part in any follow-up to the horror flick. In her own words:
“There’s nothing more I could do with that part than I did. I went as far as I could go, as truthfully in that emotion as I could do it. And then they’d want to do the dog in CGI, which the fans [would not like].”
Wallace may have a point. Any attempt to bring the demon dog back to the big screen has fallen short. A remake of the feature has been trying to get off the ground for years now with nothing to show for it.
In 2013, Sunn Classic Pictures announced that they were celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the premiere by producing a remake. That was six years ago. The planned title, which was expected to be the same as its source material, was bizarrely changed to C.U.J.O. while in development, much to the chagrin of fans.
The acronym apparently stands for “Canine Unit Joint Operations,” which implied that the movie would either be some kind of military origin story for the titular hound or that the killer dog would be retooled as a cyborg. Either way, both Wallace and the general public weren’t happy. No one’s heard much about the idea since, which may mean it’s scrapped for the time being.
The actress is starring in another remake of one of her earlier horror films, though. A reimagining of the 1986 flick Critters will be released later this summer. Hopefully it will be the first of many Dee Wallace movies to get redone. Just don’t expect her to be anywhere near the screen or even the theater if this Cujo project ever gets off the ground.