One of the more ill-guided remakes has landed in an early grave.
According to Heat Vision, Disney has killed Robert Zemeckis’ mo-cap remake of Yellow Submarine. Though many are eagerly pointing at the failure of Mars Needs Moms (of which Zemeckis was producer), the truth is that the project had been in trouble for some time. Disney has been rapidly cooling to Zemeckis’ mo-cap people, apparently finding them as creepy as audiences do.
And maybe, just maybe, someone also realized what a silly idea it was. Yellow Submarine is just such a product of its time and its legendary band that remaking it seemed to be the height of hubris. And that’s coming from someone who will watch Peter Serafinowicz in anything. (A 2 hour Ringo remembers? Why not!)
But if you really had your heart set on seeing Cary Elwes, Dean Lennox Kelly, Adam Campbell, and Serafinowicz take a psychdelic trip to an octopus’ garden, there’s still some hope. Though it’s dead at Disney, Zemeckis can shop the project around, and find a new home for Yellow Submarine, though it’s not known if the cast hangs on.
However, it doesn’t sound like Zemeckis is interested. Surprisingly, he’s (perhaps dimmed by the loss of his ImageMovers shingle at Disney) rumored to be considering a live-action project though. I picture him combing through scripts rather sadly though, dreaming of green screens and those ping-pong studded leotards, wishing he didn’t have to mess around with real world locations and costumes.