‘Logan’s Run’ Remake Now Envisioned as a ‘Hunger Games’-Style Franchise

A remake / reboot of Logan’s Run has been in the works for years, like, people have had children and seen them enter junior high with a mountain of pimples in the time it’s taken Warner Bros. to figure this one out. But it looks as though the studio might be closer than ever, as producer Simon Kinberg (X-Men) has offered an update on the remake, which he now says WB hopes to develop into a blockbuster franchise. Surprise…?

Kinberg is the producer and writer behind the recent X-Men trilogy and is producing its upcoming spinoffs, so he knows a bit about what makes a successful franchise tick. In a recent interview with Collider, Kinberg name-drops another massively successful franchise while confirming that WB is talking to directors and have made the remake a “priority”:

It’s something that potentially is their Hunger Games kind of franchise that is about a younger audience for a younger audience with a big idea. And Logan’s Run, as you know, is the granddaddy of Maze Runner and Hunger Games and so many of these books and movies now. So yeah, they’re seeing it as a potentially really big franchise.

And although WB would like to turn Logan’s Run into a very successful (and profitable) franchise, Kinberg cautions that they’re not putting the cart before the horse — their top priority is making a great movie:

There is some thought about what the future films would be and where you could take Logan in future movies, but the focus is on ‘Make a great movie.’ It was ‘Let’s make one great movie that people fall in love with but be prepared that if they do, we could make future films and what would they look like and where would you go again with the character in the next film?’

That’s definitely a good mindset when approaching a remake, especially one of such a beloved classic. The original 1976 film took place in a dystopian future (cha-ching) where life is seemingly perfect with just one catch: you have to die at the age of 30. It’s a totally bankable concept that could easily be remade in our current cinematic climate, but it’s a movie you want someone like Garland or Refn to handle. Someone who does stylish — but not hollow — genre work.

Logan’s Run has watched a parade of directors come and go over the last 10 years — Bryan Singer was initially tapped to direct the remake, then came Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski, then Alex Garland (Ex Machina) was brought in to write a new screenplay for Carl Erik Rinsch (47 Ronin). Nicolas Winding Refn was developing the remake for a while with Ryan Gosling attached to star, and when that didn’t work out, Bioshock creator Ken Levine was hired to help sort this whole mess out.

It’ll be interesting to find out which directors WB has been courting for the project, which will give us a better idea of where they’re at in terms of style and tone on this thing.