Skip to main content

Samuel Jackson to star in remake of The Blob

RoboCop 2014 oped Samuel L Jackson
Columbia Pictures
Just when you thought you’d seen the last of a certain flesh-eating, amoeba-like jelly monster, The Blob is returning to the big screen

Oscar-nominated Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained actor Samuel L. Jackson will star in a remake of the 1958 horror film The Blob, according to an announcement made this week by by movie production/distribution/financier Goldcrest Films. Jackson will play “a biochemistry professor attempting to thwart the other-worldly predator discovered deep within the earth.”

Set to be directed by Con Air and The Expendables 2 filmmaker Simon West, the movie will once again pit its human characters against a seemingly unstoppable creature that consumes its victims and grows larger — and more dangerous — with every meal.

Jack Harris, the producer of the original 1958 film, will serve as one of the producers of the remake. Chris Haney, who served as a technical supervisor for visual effects on The Avengers and worked on the visual effects teams for AvatarWanted, and 300 (among other films) will supervise the visual effects for the project.

“I have been waiting to work with Samuel L. Jackson my whole career,” said West in a statement accompanying the casting announcement. “He is a unique talent in the industry, definitely one of a kind. I am so pleased that we will finally get to collaborate on this project.”

The original 1958 film was notable for providing the big-screen debut of Steve McQueen, who played the male lead in the film. Its surprising success at the box office — raking in more than $4 million — led to a subsequent, less-successful 1972 sequel directed by Dallas star Larry Hagman.

A 1988 remake directed by Chuck Russell (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream WarriorsThe Mask) and co-written by Russell and Frank Darabont (The Shawshank RedemptionThe Walking Dead) cast Kevin Dillon and Shawnee Smith in the lead roles. That film grossed just over $8 million.

Editors' Recommendations

Rick Marshall
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
Why The Last Ronin could be the best TMNT movie ever made
The Last Ronin wields the weapons of his fallen brothers.

Four decades ago, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird unleashed their independent comic book series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and took the industry by storm. Eastman and Laird’s Mirage Studios pulled off a feat that few other comic book companies in the 1980s were able to match. The success of the comic allowed the TMNT to cross over into an animated series in 1987, which only made the Turtles more popular. Toy lines, action figures, video games, and all manner of merchandise followed before Turtlemania reached its high point in 1990 with the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.

In a way, it’s been all downhill from there. The Turtles’ popularity has waxed and waned over the last 40 years, but they’ve never quite recaptured the frenzy of Turtlemania. Even the most recent animated movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, managed to earn only $180.5 million worldwide. Mutant Mayhem received good reviews, but those aren’t the kind of numbers that scream box office hit.

Read more
If you have to watch one Disney+ movie this April, stream this one
An imagined underwater alien civilization in Aliens of the Deep.

It would be understandable if Disney+ subscribers feel a little jealous of Hulu in April. That's because the new additions to Hulu include The Big Lebowski, The Fifth Element, Hellboy, Ocean's 11, Jumanji: The Next Level, and even Wonder Woman. The only major Disney+ movie to debut in April was Wish. For families with kids or animation lovers, Wish might be enough. But when picking the one movie to watch on Disney+ in April, we decided to dive a little deeper into the streaming catalog. That's how we settled on our choice for the one Disney+ movie that you have to watch this month: Aliens of the Deep.

Between the premiere of Titanic in 1997 and Avatar in 2009, director James Cameron threw himself into the realm of underwater exploration and directed or co-directed two documentary films. Cameron's first documentary, Ghosts of the Abyss, is not on Disney+. But Aliens of the Deep has a permanent home here. This movie was originally an IMAX release and it was filmed in IMAX 3D. The streaming experience may not be able to replicate that, but Aliens of the Deep is still visually dazzling even in 2D. And now, we'll share the three reasons why you should watch Aliens of the Deep this month.
It's one of James Cameron's passion projects

Read more
Everything you need to know about Umbrella Academy season 4
The cast of The Umbrella Academy stands together in the main room of the family mansion.

More than a year ago, Netflix announced that its superhero series The Umbrella Academy would be returning for a fourth and final season. It's one of the best shows on Netflix, and has been consistently inventive throughout its run on the streaming service. The show first premiered in 2019, and is adapted from a comic book series of the same name. Season 3 ended on a pretty suspenseful cliffhanger, so fans of the show were undoubtedly pleased with the news that the show would be back for one more rodeo.

If you're looking forward to the show's fourth and final season, you're not alone. Here's everything we know about the upcoming season, including who will be returning, how many episodes i will have and when it's coming out.
Who is in the cast of Umbrella Academy season 4?

Read more