The MANIAC COP remake is a project I have great interest in, as a fan of the original trilogy (well, not of the third film so much, but the first two are awesome). I want to see more of the maniac cop himself, Matt Cordell, and I'm open to a remake being the path taken to bringing Cordell back to the screen. Especially since the original Cordell, Robert Z'Dar, has passed away, so we couldn't see his version of the character again regardless.
My interest in the project is enhanced further by the creative team involved: DRIVE's Nicolas Winding Refn is producing the remake, with John Hyams (UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING) directing from a screenplay by comic book writer Ed Brubaker.
Last September, original MANIAC COP writer Larry Cohen told Birth.Movies.Death that the remake was not happening, as funding had not been secured and the Brubaker script he had read was "not very good".
Birth.Movies.Death has since spoken with Hyams, who assured them that the project is not dead, it's still in the works.
…well, it'd seem like nothing's happening, but actually quite a bit is happening with it. We've been working on it for a few years now, with some starts and stops. But it is going to happen. Right now, Nic Refn, our producer, who is an amazing filmmaker and a really great guy – he's stuck by me this whole time and hasn't let up, which I'm deeply thankful for and inspired by – is getting everything set. But between Ed Brubaker and myself, we are developing it, and it actually just took an interesting turn recently. This is all stuff I'm going to be able to talk about a little more in the coming months, but things are definitely coming together on it."
Refn and Hyams are both currently working on series for Amazon, but Hyams is confident that MANIAC COP will move forward after they're done working on their shows.
I'm glad to hear that they haven't given up on the project after all, and after Cohen bashed the script I'm also glad to hear that Hyams and Brubaker are still working on developing it.