Filmmaker John Woo is back in the limelight in recent months, and for good reasons aplenty in the wake of his latest international production launch, Manhunt, a remake of Sato Junya’s 1976 thriller now slated for 2017. Since then, at least one other helmer circulating his work is actor Stephen Fung who is currently up to direct a remake of Woo’s 1991 heist action comedy, Once A Thief, which also piles onto his previous efforts at another Woo title, the 1986 Hong Kong cinema classic, A Better Tomorrow.
The film, starring Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung and Waise Lee with a prolific performance by Chow Yun Fat, centers on the upheaval between a Triad big brother in the counterfeiting business, and his beleagured younger brother on the police force. What ensues is a thrilling crime drama that reunites old friends, double-crossed and reduced to their own lesser states, for a mission of vengeance and redemption against a duplicitous and newly-ascended crime boss, and with a finale that will further reveal the limits of family, friendship, brotherhood and loyalty.
Following its 1987 and 1989 sequels and apart from its 1994 and 2010 remakes in Hindi and Korean, respectively, one other known remake attempt with Stephen Fung at the helm had been in tow since around 2007 with actors Tom Cruise and Andy Lau up for roles at the time. Obviously there’s been no known movement while it appears we’re likely bound to hear more from Fung on his latest remake attempt with Woo’s 1991 heist comedy, Once A Thief as of earlier this month. At any rate, Fung’s film is still in the preliminary stages, but if he plans on getting the ball rolling with A Better Tomorrow, he and the folks at Chen Kuo Fu’s CKF Pictures better start soon. Word now forwarded by Asian Film Strike writes that Beijing Wen Hua Dong Run Investment Co. is on the prowl and closer to a remake of their own with filmmaker Sheng Ding in the chair.
Ding, best known for directint Saving Mr. Wu and Jackie Chan’s Police Story: Lockdown, certainly gives off the impression that he can echo some of the tropes that made A Better Tomorrow a movie to remember. He’s no Woo though, and neither is Fung, as keen as both may be on their own visions on how to retell Woo’s signature classic. The film is great for more reasons than several, and specifically with an adherance to a slick and stylish perspective on action sequencing that have further helped land Hong Kong movies on the world stage.
Ding’s next rollout will be this December for the Jackie Chan headliner, Railroad Tigers. In the meantime, are you looking forward to either or both remakes of A Better Tomorrow? Let us know in the comment section below or on our social media pages.