The 'Bloodsport' Remake Won't Be Anything Like JCVD's 1988 Movie

[Wangman Page]

A Bloodsport remake is in the works with Phillip Noyce attached to direct and Robert Mark Kamen writing the screenplay.

Budgeted around $65-$75 million, the new Bloodsport will center on an Afghanistan war veteran retreating to Brazil to recover from what he'd experienced in the war zone. While there, he got involved in a martial arts contest.

While the details differ, the movie sounds similar so far. The main thing is that martial arts contest.

However, unlike the 1988 movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, the new movie will be a “total reinvention,†according to producer Edward R. Pressman. He said the “[t]he original Bloodsport was a ring-set tournament†while the new one is going to be “more of a road movie, a journey.â€

When Pressman said it's going to be a “total reinvention,†he wasn't kidding.

According to Kamen, the screenwriter, the two movies are nothing alike. Here's what he told CraveOnline in an interview:

“This film resembles the original in title only. It has nothing to do with any Kumite contest. It has nothing to do with Frank Dux. If the title was not the same, you would not associate the two films.... the story has nothing to do with the first one.â€

I buy that the main character's background is different, the location is different, the motivation of him entering that martial arts contest is different, what remains the same is that martial arts contest.

You know that phrase “a rose by any other name...†applies here. Really, that's the whole point of the movie. It will still be about a fighter standing tall over the other fighters as the winner of some underground tournament. And for a movie like this, it doesn't need to be anything more.

So this is not a remake then other than in title. So why call it a remake.

 

[Petty]

I'm trying to figure that out myself. But you can't touch the old one however you chop it. That is a classic and one of my favorite movies. I don't think I will be watching this one.

 

[Postman Dave]

...what the fuck is this shit? Fuck that noise. Bloodsport original is awesome, this can GTFO.