At the rate ‘80s movies have been getting remade, it’s hard to believe that there are any left. This year alone will see Footloose, Red Dawn, Conan the Barbarian and Fright Night along with a prequel to The Thing hitting theaters. And now, we have another ‘80’s classic to add to the list.
The 1988 Jean-Claude Van Damme martial arts movie Bloodsport is getting remade with Philip Noyce in the director’s chair. Noyce directed Angelina Jolie in last year’s espionage thriller Salt. The Australian director has also helmed other blockbuster movies such as The Bone Collector (also starring Jolie), Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger.
The storyline for this remake will follow, “an American who goes to Brazil to recover from the violence he has experienced in Afghanistan and gets involved in a martial arts contest.” Robert Mark Kamen (Taken, The Fifth Element, all five Karate Kid movies) is a decent choice to write the script considering he’s worked with Luc Besson on all three Transporter movies as well as the screenplay for the upcoming Zoe Saldana action adventure Colombiana.
Bloodsport will, of course, feature the familiar tournament style fight scenes, but that template raises two questions – Who would step into Van Damme’s shoes and furthermore, who would his opponents be? Might we see a bunch of UFC fighters in this or will we get a bunch of young martial arts stars like Ong-Bak’s Tony Jaa and Chocolate’s Jeeja Yanin (dubbed the female Jet Li/Jackie Chan)?
What do you think, movie fans? Who should play the Van Damme role and who should that hero fight? Sound off below!
