John Landis’ horror-comedy An American Werewolf In London has become a cult classic, and a remake by his son Max Landis has been in the works for some time, but now looks unlikely to ever happen. Over three decades have passed since the release of An American Werewolf In London, and the remake has been in early development for a while now, with Landis attached as both writer and director.
An American Werewolf In London followed two American students (David Naughton and Griffin Dunne) who go on a backpacking holiday in England, where things take a gory turn and they are attacked by a werewolf. The film was a critical and commercial success, with some critics considering it a milestone in the comedy-horror genre and several filmmakers citing it as an influence, such as Edgar Wright. A sequel, titled An American Werewolf in Paris, was released 16 years later, and talks about a remake of the original started to emerge in 2009.
Back then, it was reported that producers Sean and Bryan Furst were working on a remake of An American Werewolf in London, but the project has been delayed multiple times. In 2016, Max Landis was said to be on board as writer and director, and he himself confirmed on Twitter that he had completed the first draft of the script in 2017. But that same year Landis was accused of sexual assault, and more reports about women who suffered emotional and sexual abuse by him have been surfacing ever since. In a post-Harvey Weinstein era, and with movements like Me Too and others raising awareness on cases of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, Landis’ future projects are on a possibly permanent pause.
Some of Landis’ film projects have already taken different routes without him. The action-horror film Shadow in the Cloud, which had a script written by him, is being re-written by director Roseanne Liang, and Landis has been removed as producer. The An American Werewolf In London remake will most likely be added to the list of cancelled projects, as it’s unlikely that any studio would like to move forward with it after Landis’ behavior has been made public.
An American Werewolf In London could be given another chance with another writer and director attached to it, but it’s very possible that the big studios (as in, those who could back the project) will opt to stay away from any and all Landis properties for a while. Besides, a remake feels unnecessary, as the film doesn’t need anything new added to it nor it needs to be modernized, so it might be better to just let it be as it is.
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