Remaking Big Trouble in Little China with frequent collaborator Patrick Wilson might be a dream job for James Wan, but purists who say the original film shouldn’t be touched need not worry. Over the years, Wan has worked often with Wilson, and the two have multiple upcoming projects in the works. Wilson returns to star in and direct Insidious 5, which Wan produced, and he also appears in the superhero sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which Wan directed.
Speaking about his relationship with Wilson in a new interview with EW, Wan said that the two film buffs enjoy speaking about their shared love for certain classics. Among them is Big Trouble in Little China, the Kurt Russell-led film released by director John Carpenter in 1986. Both Wan and Wilson are such big fans of the movie that they fantasize about remaking their own version. At the same time, also speaking as a big fan, Wan suggests that it would be “sacrilege” to attempt remaking the classic, assuring fans that this is not something that will ever happen in reality.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
“One of the big reasons I love working with Patrick on my films is, he’s such a film buff. He’s truly, truly a film geek, and when we’re working together, a lot of times we’re not focused on the film we’re shooting — we’re talking about other movies. We all love to geek out about John Carpenter, about Big Trouble in Little China. You know, that’s a big film for Patrick and myself, and we always fantasize about doing a remake of [it]. But that’s never going to happen. I mean, it’s a sacrilege movie!”
Big Trouble in Little China Might Be Rebooted
20th Century Studios
While Wan and Wilson are only fantasizing about rebooting Big Trouble in Little China, there are others in Hollywood who’ve been more serious about reviving the film with an all-new movie. Dating back several years, there have been reports of a reboot starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the lead role. However, when fans cried foul about seeing the movie remade, producer Hiram Garcia clarified that the plan was for the film to be a legacy sequel and that The Rock wouldn’t be playing a new version of Kurt Russell’s character, Jack Burton.
But there’s no guarantee that this new film will end up happening. Garcia told Collider last year in an interview that the project remains on The Rock’s wish list, but there have been so many complications in making it happen that it’s hard to say if it ever really will. From that interview:
“It’s still an ambition of ours but unfortunately there are complications that come with a legacy property like that which has so much attached to it from over the years. We have a really fun idea on what we’d want to do with it, especially since our goal was never to remake Big Trouble but simply continue it. Similar to what we did with Jumanji we would continue the story and make sure the original stands on it’s own since it means so much to us and fans all around the world. So needless to say we are still working on making that happen but as with any great project the road is not easy but we are sticking to it! We’re going to figure out a way to continue the story of Big Trouble in Little China.”
