Even Christopher Nolan's movies aren't safe from the remake bug that continues to infect Hollywood.
MEMENTO is up on the block, with AMBI Pictures announcing that it will finance and produce a "new" version of the forward-and-backwards told story of Leonard, a man unable to store recent memories trying to overcome his condition to solve the mystery of his wife's killer. Having acquired the library of Exclusive Media Group, that includes the remake rights to the film that put Christopher Nolan on the map, and AMBI certainly didn't fork over their money to let these intellectual properties sit on the shelf and collect dust. (CRUEL INTENTIONS and DONNIE DARKO, among others, are in the company of the rights they locked up as well, so don't be surprised if they move on any of them in the future.)
Strangely enough, Monika Bacardi, who runs AMBI, had nothing but outstanding things to say about MEMENTO, leading to a bit of head scratching as to why they'd even try to touch this film in any way.
MEMENTO is a masterpiece that leaves audiences guessing not just throughout the film, but long after as well, which is a testament to its daring approach. We intend to stay true to Christopher Nolan’s vision and deliver a memorable movie that is every bit as edgy, iconic and award-worthy as the original. It’s a big responsibility to deliver something that lives up to the mastery of the original, but we are extremely excited and motivated to bring this puzzle back to life and back into the minds of moviegoers.
"A masterpiece"?
"Mastery of the original"?
Those typically aren't the types of movies you try to do-over, but someone's feeling froggy in making something that certainly has a high bar to meet in order to even come close to living up to Nolan's original.
Now look… Let me try to be a voice of reason here and help talk you down off the ledge. It's perfectly understandable to be frustrated with Hollywood's insistence on remaking more and more films. You see this news come across your face and the first thing you want to o is facepalm and sigh. But leave it there. Channel any sort of "anger" or "outrage" that stems from this into something far more productive. We spend far too much time and energy getting pissed-off about things like this.
All you really need to do is look at it, say to yourself "This sucks/This is stupid" and move on with your day and the rest of your life. Don't even think twice about it. You don't have to see it, and, if you're as bothered by it as I would guess a lot of you are, you shouldn't. But that's about as far as it needs to go. Ignore it. Pretend it doesn't even exist, and we'll all come out of it a little bit happier. Sometimes ignorance can be bliss. In the case of knowing a MEMENTO remake is happening, I can't think of a better time to call upon it.