It has been twelve years since Gore Verbinski‘s THE RING heralded a boom of Japanese horror remakes in Hollywood. It has also been nine years since Japanese director Hideo Nakata all but killed the craze with the awful THE RING TWO. Now, it looks like after all this time, a third American entry in THE RING franchise is chugging along.
Previously announced to be directed by F. Javier Gutierrez and written by David Loucka, the newly titled THE RING 3D may be getting a rewrite thanks to veteran scribe Akiva Goldsman. Goldsman is best known for having won the Oscar for A BEAUTIFUL MIND and having scripted THE DA VINCI CODE, BATMAN FOREVER, BATMAN & ROBIN, and I AM LEGEND. He has also executive produced the last three PARANORMAL ACTIVITY movies and directed the Colin Farrell bomb A WINTER’S TALE. He was also linked to the developing adaptation of Stephen King‘s THE DARK TOWER alongside Ron Howard.
THE RING 3D will obviously benefit from having a better screenwriter than TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION’s Ehren Kruger, but I am not sure if Goldsman is that much of an upgrade. It is a shame that Hollywood cannot come up with any original ideas for horror movies and has to keep recycling franchises like this. As much as I enjoyed THE RING, I was not holding my breath for another one.
F. Javier Gutierrez