A remake of the seminal 1976 sci-fi film Logan’s Run has been in the works for quite some time. It was initially set up as a directing vehicle for Nicholas Winding Refn (which in hindsight seems kind of crazy) with his Drive star Ryan Gosling in the lead, but the two subsequently fell off the project and Warner Bros. continued trying to find an “in” with the material. That arrived this summer, when X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Star Wars writer/producer extraordinaire Simon Kinberg came onboard to pen the story and treatment for the remake, bringing the project much closer to becoming a reality.

The original film, which has served as the foundation for countless sci-fi stories ever since, revolved around a dystopian society in which citizens are killed once they reach the age of 30 in order to control overpopulation. That premise in and of itself sounds mighty fitting for the current blockbuster/franchise landscape, and when Steve recently spoke with Kinberg during a lengthy interview, the producer revealed that Warner Bros. envisions the property as the beginning of a lucrative franchise:

“We are talking to directors for that movie [right now]… It definitely is [a priority for the studio]. It’s something that potentially is their Hunger Games kind of franchise that is about a younger audience for a younger audience with a big idea. And Logan’s Run, as you know, is the granddaddy of Maze Runner and Hunger Games and so many of these books and movies now. So yeah, they’re seeing it as a potentially really big franchise.”

Steve subsequently asked Kinberg if the knowledge that this is intended to be a franchise impacts the specific story that he’s crafting for the remake:

“I mean it’s a little bit like what I was saying about the X-Men movies. There is some thought about what the future films would be and where you could take Logan in future movies, but the focus is on ‘Make a great movie.’ It was ‘Let’s make one great movie that people fall in love with but be prepared that if they do, we could make future films and what would they look like and where would you go again with the character in the next film?’

While one could easily see Warner Bros. simply taking the bare bones of the original film and creating some kind of Hunger Games/Divergent/Maze Runner mash-up, Kinberg says the story he’s put together maintains quite a bit from the original:

“There’s a lot from the original movie. I love the original movie and I think the storytelling in the original movie is pretty wonderful. The set up is great, I think there’s a lot of world creation that’s pretty awesome as well, though ultimately that’ll be the director’s domain. But yeah there’s a lot from the original film in it, and then there’s a lot of—I guess I would call it reinterpretation from the original film rather than just a whole scale recreation.”

With Warner Bros. now out to directors, and with The Hunger Games coming to an end and leaving a vacuum in Hollywood when it comes to mega teen-centric sci-fi franchises, one imagines this thing could really start to heat up in the coming months, so it’s possible we could see some significant movement soon.

While Logan’s Run is a property that, like most, doesn’t need a remake, it makes more sense to cut out the middle man and go straight to Logan’s Run rather than adapting or creating yet another Logan’s Run-esque sci-fi property. Moreover, one could easily envision an updated version of that story working incredibly well, so I’m quite curious to see this thing come together.

If you missed any of our previous stories from Steve’s interview with Kinberg, click the links below: