Wes Craven talks about remakes, sequels to remakes, and sequels to sequels of remakes

In the coming year, Midnight Entertainment - Wes Craven's production company - is going to be busy. This month will see the release of The Last House on the Left, the second remake from the early days of his career that he produced. The success of this film will determine the fate of four other projects brewing at Midnight.

"We're going to be exploring new avenues," Craven told STYD over the weekend. "The Hills Have Eyes 3, we have a concept for which is really fun. A possible sequel to The Last House on the Left, then The People Under the Stairs and Shocker. That's it for the films we somewhat own. The first two I own with one other guy. People and Shocker Universal owns. But if I say, 'No, don't make it' they can't make it."

Out of this quartet, the third chapter in the Hills franchise - kicked off by Alex Aja in 2006 - is the closest to coming to fruition. Craven says he's currently talking to another European filmmaker who he believes has the right skills to bring the next installment of the rad-mutated miners misadventures to the big screen.

"Fox Atomic has a first look deal and they have passed on it," Craven reveals. "The reason is because of the deal. They have the right of first refusal but if someone else wants to do it, Fox has the right to come in and match that deal. For them, it's smarter to have us go find someone that will say yes, then come in see if they can top it."

As for Shocker, Craven confesses the original was not created on the technical level he reached for. Special effects hiccups prevented him from fulfilling his vision. A redo, "could be extraordinary if you have the special effects and really open it up. The possibilities are endless."

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The Random - The Losers, Dead Spy Running, Howl, Old Timers, Little Fockers, Shocker, The People Under the Stairs

According to Variety, "Watchmen" and "Grey's Anatomy" actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan has signed on to topline the adaptation of the Vertigo comic, The Losers. The James Vanderbilt-scripted project is being financed by Dark Castle Entertainment with Dark Castle's Joel Silver, Weed Road's Akiva Goldsman and Kerry Foster producing. The Losers regroup in the interest of revenge and the opportunity to remove their names from a secret CIA death list and to conduct covert operations against the CIA and its interests. Morgan would play Clay, the group's leader, whose signature look favors black suits without ties. Morgan is also shooting the Hammer Films thriller The Resident with Hilary Swank around the same time so schedules are currently being worked out.

"Traffic" scribe Stephen Gaghan will pen the adaptation of Jon Stock's espionage novel Dead Spy Running for Warner Bros. Pictures says The Hollywood Reporter. The story is the first in a trilogy and aims to reinvent the spy genre by telling the origin story of a newly trained spy which mixes Robert Ludlum's grittiness with John Le Carre's wit. McG is attached to direct the project which kicks off with the protagonist running the London Marathon, where a fellow racer is strapped with explosives. The scenario leads to a globe-trotting adventure to clear the name of the man's father.

Werc Werk Works is set to produce and fully finance Howl, taking over some of the reigns of the Allen Ginsberg-themed project from Telling Pictures reports Variety. "Howl" centers on the obscenity trial over Ginsberg's famed poem, as well as an animated reimagining of the poem itself. James Franco, David Strathairn, Alan Alda, Jeff Daniels, Mary-Louise Parker and Paul Rudd star in the project which begins shooting March 16th in New York City.

Sidney Kimmel Entertainment has picked up playwright Noah Haidle's spec script Old Timers says the trades. The script follows two sixtysomething cons who have one final night to do everything they've wanted and reunite their gang before one of them meets his demise.

John Hamburg has come aboard to rewrite Larry Stuckey's screenplay for Little Fockers, the third film in the "Meet the Parents" comedy series reports Risky Biz Blog.

Wes Craven spoke to JoBlo AITH about some more of his films being remade - "We're actually talking about remaking THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS. Possibly SHOCKER also. So these ones that we've been remaking, especially THE HILLS HAVE EYES and THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, I own with the producer. Two different producers and both close friends. Peter Locke with The Hills Have Eyes and Sean Cunningham with Last House. So we now own them after thirty years we got them back. It's funny because when we made those deals we thought, we'll never be alive in thirty years, we were all like [mimicking smoking pot]… but it turns out we're still alive. So were able to remake those. And People Under the Stairs and Shocker, although we don't own them, Universal owns them but we have rights with Universal and myself, and the producer who is Shep Gordon to say yes or no. So if we all say yes we can do it. Universal can't go off and make them with somebody else. So we're talking about doing that now."

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