Me love this premise, although it worth noting that 80s actually were very 50s-obsessed, as besides usual generational nostalgia, conservatives dominated Reagan-era culture and were fixated on pre-desegregation glory days. So 1984 franchising 1956 actually pretty plausible. Brat Pack actors would have murdered each other over who got to star in remake of Giant. Me could absolutely see cheesy spectacle of Around World in 80 Days getting greenlight.
And if you squint googly eyes, you can see one 1956 moving actually having franchise in 1984 — Forbidden Planet was direct inspiration for Star Trek, and Search For Spock, best odd-numbered Trek film by country mile, came out that year.
That Best Years Of Our Lives prequel seems chillingly plausible. In fact, it could even have happened at the time, since even in the forties, unwanted follow-ups were a thing. (It happened with another William Wyler movie, with the deeply unnecessary The Miniver Story.)
How about, as a prequel to Detour.......Vera, the origin story of noir's most fatale femme! Vera tracks the gradual descent into madness of the title character, a vibrant and optimistic young woman from the sticks who moves to the Big Apple at the tail end of the Roaring '20s to make her fortune in advertising. She gets her big break just before the stock market crash turns the city into a Grand Guignol cesspool of misery. Her dreams destroyed, she turns to drink. An undignified few years later, she's head-down on the bar at her favorite seedy nightclub haunt, when she hears the first few notes from the club's new piano player, a fresh-faced fella named Al. His joie de vivre reminds her of her former self, and a glint of the old hopefulness returns to her eyes. When Al takes a break she decides to make a pass, but Al walks right past her to his girlfriend, with whom he's obviously madly in love. Disgusted and at the end of her rope, Vera storms out onto the sidewalk and sticks out her thumb....
Me love this premise, although it worth noting that 80s actually were very 50s-obsessed, as besides usual generational nostalgia, conservatives dominated Reagan-era culture and were fixated on pre-desegregation glory days. So 1984 franchising 1956 actually pretty plausible. Brat Pack actors would have murdered each other over who got to star in remake of Giant. Me could absolutely see cheesy spectacle of Around World in 80 Days getting greenlight.
And if you squint googly eyes, you can see one 1956 moving actually having franchise in 1984 — Forbidden Planet was direct inspiration for Star Trek, and Search For Spock, best odd-numbered Trek film by country mile, came out that year.
That Best Years Of Our Lives prequel seems chillingly plausible. In fact, it could even have happened at the time, since even in the forties, unwanted follow-ups were a thing. (It happened with another William Wyler movie, with the deeply unnecessary The Miniver Story.)
ok, you've sold me on the Notorious series
Now I can't stop picturing a Steven Spielberg's AppleTV+ series about John Ford making the newsreels for the OSS—and a Hanks in every role!
How about, as a prequel to Detour.......Vera, the origin story of noir's most fatale femme! Vera tracks the gradual descent into madness of the title character, a vibrant and optimistic young woman from the sticks who moves to the Big Apple at the tail end of the Roaring '20s to make her fortune in advertising. She gets her big break just before the stock market crash turns the city into a Grand Guignol cesspool of misery. Her dreams destroyed, she turns to drink. An undignified few years later, she's head-down on the bar at her favorite seedy nightclub haunt, when she hears the first few notes from the club's new piano player, a fresh-faced fella named Al. His joie de vivre reminds her of her former self, and a glint of the old hopefulness returns to her eyes. When Al takes a break she decides to make a pass, but Al walks right past her to his girlfriend, with whom he's obviously madly in love. Disgusted and at the end of her rope, Vera storms out onto the sidewalk and sticks out her thumb....
More thought experiments, please! I love this kind of post.