I hope you're not tired of the concept of humanity facing exinction by way of being replaced by emotionless alien beings that grow out of pods, because after four cinematic variations on the story (Don Siegel's 1956 film INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake, the 1993 Abel Ferrara film BODY SNATCHERS, and 2007's troubled THE INVASION, which was directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel but had reshoots helmed by James McTeigue) Warner Bros. has decided that we need another adaptation of Jack Finney's 1955 novel The Body Snatchers.
Finney's story is set
in a small town invaded by aliens who plant pods that eventually open to become humans, a copy of those who lived in the town. One by one, each citizen falls prey to these aliens as the pods are dropped alongside their beds, mature as they sleep and then replicate the human as they sleep. The alien humans, which show zero emotion, then start multiplying in the town. This is slowly figured out by a local doctor who tries to stop it, and all the while he (and the audience) never knows who is real and who is an alien ready to kill.
WB and producer John Davis have hired David Leslie Johnson to write the latest adaptation. Johnson's name is one we've been hearing with some regularity lately – his previous credits include ORPHAN and THE CONJURING 2, he has written the script for another reboot of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, and it has been announced that he will be writing THE CONJURING 3.
I haven't been crying out for another INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, but if this one does make it through production I would still be there opening weekend.
Since the last two takes on the material have whittled the title down to BODY SNATCHERS and THE INVASION, I'm hoping this one will go with the remaining option: drop the INVASION, drop the BODY SNATCHERS, and call it OF THE! I'm just kidding, of course. (Make it happen, WB.)