Invasion of the Body Snatchers is one of science fiction’s ultimate stories, spawning multiple remakes and inspiring countless imitators. Between the original adaptation of Jack Finney’s book in 1956 and the Donald Sutherland starrer in 1978, the Body Snatchers story is responsible for two of sci-fi’s best ever movies, both of which successfully portrayed the primal terror of not truly being able to know your enemy. It’s understandable, therefore, that Hollywood continues to come back to the premise of these alien invaders, often trying to put their own spin on things.
Despite the pod people’s popularity, there hasn’t actually been a successful direct remake of the Body Snatchers story since Donald Sutherland chilled us all with his pointy finger back in the late 70’s. But, that could all be about to change because, according to Deadline, Warner Bros. is in the process of penning a new Invasion of the Body Snatchers movie.
The report states that John Davis, producer of sci-fi flicks like I Robot, Predator, and Chronicle is heading up the project, with David Leslie Johnson (The Conjuring 2, The Walking Dead) working on the script.
Despite multiple modern attempts failing at bringing the Body Snatchers story to a modern audience, I’m inclined to suspect that there’s potential in this project. The story is certainly there, it’s just a matter of finding a cast and crew who can succeed where the likes of Meg Tilly, Gabrielle Anwar, Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman failed.