With Dreamgirls’ recent success proving that movie musicals are still hot tickets and Hairspray on its way into cinemas on a wave of early positive buzz, yet another classic musical – this time one that has already been a film – is being shoved onto the remake stage.
MGM has just announced that, thanks to a concerted bout of street busking, it has managed to scrape up the $25 million budget needed to mount a remake of Fame.
Alan Parker’s 1980 original – which itself spawned a successful TV show and theatrical version – followed the highs and lows of the students of New York City High School For The Performing Arts, and launched several careers alongside a brief fashion obsession with leg warmers.
The company plans to update the story and make other tweaks in the new script, but while it has apparently locked down a writer and director, everything is being kept secret for now. "We'll update it, but we'll still keep some of the songs. The script is being written right now, but we are keeping it under wraps. There will be a strong musical component, though," blabbed MGM honcho Rick Sands, clearly worried about all the other studios launching their versions of Fame. Elsewhere in Hollywood, Fox executives could be seen angrily feeding copies of sound-alike script “Maim” to their assistants.
If all goes well and there are now serious fashion incidents, Fame should be in cinemas next summer.
