New Remake Of Kurt Russell's 1991 Oscar-Nominated Thriller In Development With Top Gun: Maverick Star

Summary A Backdraft remake with Glen Powell is in development, seemingly announced by producer Brian Grazer.

The original film was praised for its special effects, though its belated sequel did not perform well.

The remake aims to improve on its special effects using AI and digital technology.

A Backdraft remake is seemingly in development with a Top Gun: Maverick star. Directed by Ron Howard, with a script by Gregory Wilden, the 1991 action thriller follows two rival firefighters and brothers who team up to investigate a series of fires involving oxygen-induced infernos called backdrafts in Chicago. Kurt Russell leads the film's ensemble cast alongside William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rebecca De Mornay, Donald Sutherland, Robert De Niro, Jason Gedrick, and J.T. Walsh.

Now, over 30 years after the original movie, a Backdraft remake with Glen Powell is seemingly in development, as announced by Brian Grazer, a producer and co-founder of Imagine Entertainment, during a CNBC interview. Watch the portion of the video below, starting at the 1:10 minute mark:

Grazer, who won an Oscar for producing the Best Picture-winning film A Beautiful Mind, was talking about the current state of Hollywood when he mentioned multiple times that he is working on another Backdraft with Powell. Read Grazer's full comments below:

Imagine [Entertainment] has always played in that zone where there is that chance, high probability of chance, that it [a movie] will be successful in a movie theater. It’s great for us because we’ve built, over 30 years, over 100 different products – brands. Whether it’s Backdraft which I’m now going to do today with Glen Powell, or whether it’s 24, a movie that we’re going to do in a very interesting way with Disney-Fox. These formats of the late 90s, early 2000s have become very important because the streamers, or studios, are right now even more risk-averse. They like brands that are already established that people have a high level of awareness to, where you actually add a new twist, or really interesting casting, which is of course what we’re doing with ours. We’re doing something with Sidney Sweeny which I’m very excited about. We’re doing something with Scarlett Johansson, also very excited about that. I mentioned Glen Powell with Backdraft.

Should Backdraft Be Remade?

It Already Had A Belated Sequel In 2019

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Whether Backdraft should be remade comes down to whether it can improve on its stellar special effects.

Backdraft received favorable reviews from critics who praised it as a solid action film with outstanding special effects, despite not featuring an especially profound story. The movie was a box office success that made over $150 million worldwide on a $40 million budget and went on to receive three Academy Award nominations for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, and Best Sound Editing. It also received its own special effects attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood, which opened in 1992 and closed in 2010, in which guests could learn how the film's pyrotechnic effects were created and experience them firsthand.

Backdraft has 73% and 75% scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

The 1991 action thriller has already inspired a belated sequel, Backdraft 2 in 2019, with Baldwin and Sutherland reprising their roles as Brian McCaffrey and Ronald Bartel from the original movie. Joe Anderson led Backdraft 2's cast as Sean McCaffrey, the son of Russell's late character, Stephen, as he and a new team investigate a fire that killed five youngsters on Halloween. The sequel was made on a much smaller budget, released direct-to-video, and received largely negative reviews, calling it an unnecessary and nonsensical sequel, resulting in a 40% score from critics and a 16% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Related Kurt Russell's 10 Best Action Movies, Ranked Kurt Russell is one of the action genre's most iconic movie stars, and his filmography of spectacular films makes for a truly thrilling watch.

Whether Backdraft should be remade comes down to whether it can improve on its stellar special effects. The original used a combination of real fire and special effects by Industrial Light & Magic. Grazer is confident that, with modern advancements in AI and digital technology, these effects can be even more impressive today. Furthermore, Powell currently stars in a sequel to another 1990s hit with stellar special effects, Twisters. With the rising star attached, Backdraft should be able to set itself apart from the original and justify its existence.

Backdraft Will Continue Glen Powell's Meteoric Rise

He's Starred In A String Of Recent Hits

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With Backdraft added to his upcoming projects, Powell should continue to carve out a role for himself as a charismatic presence in spectacle-driven sequels.

With Backdraft added to his list of recent roles, the movie should continue Powell's meteoric rise as a movie star. After his roles such as Scream Queens and Richard Linklater's Everybody Wants Some!!, Powell starred in Top Gun: Maverick as Hangman, the cocky yet talented pilot who heroically saves Maverick (Tom Cruise) and Rooster (Miles Teller) during the movie's thrilling third act. Top Gun: Maverick made almost $1.5 billion at the box office, the second-highest-grossing film of 2022, received six Oscar nominations, and introduced Powell to audiences who may not have been familiar with him before.

Recent Glen Powell Movie RT Score Box Office Top Gun: Maverick 96% $1.4B Devotion 80% $21M Anyone But You 52% $220M Hit Man 95% NA Twisters 78% TBD

After Top Gun: Maverick, Powell starred in another aviation movie in 2022, Devotion, which bombed at the box office, but he quickly recovered with Anyone But You. Starring alongside Sydney Sweeney, the rom-com grossed over $220 million at the box office, one of the biggest romantic comedies in recent years, though it received mixed reviews from critics for its watchable stars but lackluster script. His next movie, Netflix's Hit Man (which he co-wrote with Linklater), received rave reviews from critics, boasting a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score, with much praise for Powell's performance as a professor who puts on many identities.

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Powell also stars in Twisters, which releases in theaters on July 19, and is already tracking to be another hit. The original Twister made $495 million, the second-highest-grossing film of 1996, and was nominated for two Oscars for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound. Twisters reviews praise the standalone sequel as a similar spectacle, elevated by Powell's charismatic presence. Top Gun: Maverick and Twisters are both sequels to decades-old movies with stellar special effects, and with Backdraft added to his upcoming projects, Powell should continue to carve out a role for himself as a charismatic presence in spectacle-driven legacy sequels.

Powell also stars in Edgar Wright's Running Man remake, another adaptation of Stephen King's 1982 novel, which is set to start filming this fall.

Source: CNBC