When last we heard onThe Raidfront, a remake was in development withExpendables 3directorPatrick Hughesin the driver’s seat, andFrank Grillo(Captain America: Civil War) andTaylor Kitschready to star. However, a new report has surfaced suggesting this new version is in trouble
According toThe Tracking Board, sources have confirmed that both Hughes and Kitsch have dropped out of the project, though no further details surrounding their departures are available at this time. Furthermore, the report states that Screen Gems, whose Sony subsidiary Sony Pictures Classics releasedThe Raid 2in the U.S. last year, has also dropped the production. That leaves XYZ Films as the only production company backing the project.
Let’s take this report with a grain of salt for the moment, considering the source. Though, the information makes some sense. Not too long after the success ofThe Raid 2in 2014, a remake was announced, which seemed to suggest that the studio wanted to capitalize on the franchise’s hype. Filming wasoriginally scheduledto take place last September, and was thenpushed back. When/Filmasked Grillo why there hasn’t been much movement on the remake, the actor said, in part:
There’s a lot of training, a lot of martial arts training. They weren’t going to remake The Raid, which is a beloved film, if they couldn’t find a guy who could find the physical stuff and they hadn’t been able to do that. So I think we’re going to come back around after I’m done with the second 10 [episodes ofKingdom].
If the report is true, perhaps this is the reason for Kitsch’s departure. As for Hughes, he’s already set to helm yacht race disaster movieThe Storm Warning. For the time being, we’ll have to wait and see how this all plays out.
The original,The Raid: Redemption(as it was subtitled for its U.S. release), featured martial arts expert and actorIko Uwaisas a rookie member of a S.W.A.T. team who has to fight his way out of a tenement run by a ruthless mobster. Uwais returned forThe Raid 2, picking up with his character, Rama, going undercover to bring down the Jakarta syndicate and clean up the dirty police department.
