While many franchises are stuck in the middle of a legal battle over a legal loophole, producers of the long gestured re-remake of The Blob are fighting to retain the rights to bring the gelatinous alien life form back to the big screen.
“The suit focuses on rights to remake The Blob, the cult B-film from 1958,” writes THR, “Producers Richard Saperstein (who was behind Cell, Frequency, and even The Mist) and Brian Witten (Chernobyl Diaries, Silent Night, The Barrens, Books of Blood, “Creepshow”) say they’ve spent more than $418,000 developing their project since acquiring an option to the sci-fi classic back in 2009. After 12 years, they still need more time, but they’re having a hard time getting it from Worldwide Entertainment Corporation, run by Judith Harris, whose late husband ran the indie studio responsible for the original.
“In Los Angeles Superior Court, Saperstein and Witten are now suing to retain rights,” the site continues. “They claim that Harris orally agreed to an extension and then failed to put it in writing despite multiple emails and even a $50,000 offer.
“And if a judge doesn’t recognize this as an oral agreement, they are falling back on the claim that COVID-19 represents a force majeure event that ‘prevented them from attempting to produce the Picture, and as a result, the Extension term must be tolled through the present date.‘ ”
The Blob reboot has had several filmmakers attached, most notably Rob Zombie, with Simon West most recently developing a “reimagining”.
The 1972 sequel Beware! The Blob was helmed by Larry Hagman. The 1988 Chuck Russell-directed remake, about “an alien lifeform that consumes everything in its path as it grows and grows,” starred Kevin Dillon.
