It was inevitable, but it’s still a bummer. Fox will remake John Carpenter’s amazing, way-ahead-of-its-time action flick Big Trouble in Little China, with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson attached to star as Jack Burton, originally played by Kurt Russell.


Apparently the original is one of the Rock’s favorite movies. It’s one of mine, too, which is why I know that no amount of modern VFX or authentic martial arts choreography could ever improve upon Carpenter’s original. The reason it’s a cult classic is because of all the things modern movies can’t replace — like the dialogue, in which most people seem to be having completely different conversations with each other. Or Russell’s sublime performance, which has the blustering Burton completely baffled at virtually everything that happens to him. Then there’s the ‘80s-level appreciation of Chinese mythology and culture, which probably wouldn’t fly today, nor should it.

Look, gun to my head, if Big Trouble in Little China needed to be remade, I’d probably put the Rock at the top of the list to play Jack Burton. He’s an action star with great comedic timing, But still, the opportunities for this to go horribly, horribly wrong are immense. First of all, does the Rock realize Jack Burton is the bumbling sidekick in this movie? Can the remake somehow perfectly straddle the line between action and comedy like the original? Will it accidentally cross over into racial insensitivity? Won’t a huge summer blockbuster budget intrinsically change the movie’s identity, no matter how faithfully they try to recreate it?


Jack Burton and I just have so many questions!

[Via The Wrap]