Michael Giacchino to make big-screen directorial debut with Them! reboot

It’s been a while since we’ve had a movie about giant atomic ants, but Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino has us covered. Deadline has reported that Michael Giacchino will make his big-screen directorial debut with a reboot of Them! for Warner Bros.

The original Them! was directed by Gordon Douglas and dealt with ants who had been mutated into giant man-eating monsters after atomic tests in New Mexico. “There’s always a movie in your mind that never leaves your head,” Michael Giacchino told Deadline. “For me, that’s Them! It wasn’t until much later in life until I learned what it was about, the nuclear age. What I love about Them! is exactly what it’s called: Them!. It’s about the other, the unknown which one refuses or can’t understand.” Giacchino added, “The current version of Them! is about immigration, and to tell a story about the subject through a lens of this insane science fiction monster movie.” He’s currently meeting with writers to develop the project, with the hope that production will be able to kick off soon. The original movie starred James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, and James Arness, and even included a pre-Star Trek Leonard Nimoy.

Although Michael Giacchino is best known as the composer behind films such as Star Trek, Jurassic World, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Batman, and more, he’s recently begun dipping his toe into the world of directing. He helmed the short film Monster Challenge as well as an episode of Star Trek: Short Treks, but it was Marvel’s Werewolf by Night that caught the attention of Warner Bros. “Michael Giacchino is a unique talent. We’re excited to be working with him and have him at the studio,” said Warner Bros Pictures President of Production and Development Jesse Ehrman.

Werewolf By Night takes place on a dark and somber night as a secret cabal of monster hunters emerge from the shadows and gather at the foreboding Bloodstone Temple following the death of their leader. In a strange and macabre memorial to the leader’s life, the attendees are thrust into a mysterious and deadly competition for a powerful relic—a hunt that will ultimately bring them face to face with a dangerous monster. The Special Presentation was a success, and Michael Giacchino has teased that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige is eager for more “one-and-done” stories. You can find a review of Werewolf by Night from our own Alex Maidy right here.