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Wednesday
04Nov2009

Arabian Nights...In 3-D!

DateWednesday, November 4, 2009 at 10:37AM
It's the time of year you hear a lot of the phrase, "This is a copycat league," referring to the way NFL teams use what seems to be working for somebody else. The best current example is the Wildcat formation. Most teams have incorporated it, but Miami's still the only club that gets it right.

That happens all the time with movies, too. And in the same week that we saw our first trailer for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Dark Horizons is carrying a story that claims Chuck Russell will direct a 3-D version of Arabian Nights. The collection of folk tales is really called One Thousand and One Nights, but calling it Arabian Nights has been the western response for centuries.

Among the tales included in the saga are Sinbad, Ali Baba, and Aladdin, but this new version is not keeping those stories separate in any way. "This new action adventure take follows a young commander who, after his king is killed in a palace coup, joins forces with Sinbad, Aladdin and his genie to rescue Scheherazade and her kingdom from dark powers," writes Dark Horizons. It sounds a little like The Expendables with scimitars.

Chuck Russell doesn't have a lot of good on his resume; The Mask is probably the best thing he's done. If you're a regular Big Picture reader, you know I'm not gung ho about every movie coming through the screen in 3-D. For this, though, I think it has the potential to be really effective. In fact, even though this is a copycat league, I would say that without 3-D, there's not as much of a reason to even consider this update, even with the seemingly unavoidable success waiting for Prince of Persia.

It's a story that requires a little techological wizardry, Russell's an effects-friendly sort of director, and it could have a big opportunity in the global marketplace, especially with an estimated $70 million budget. I think that opportunity would even be bigger if they weren't condensing all the most popular tales in One Thousand and One Nights into one movie, though.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment2 Comments |

Reader Comments (2)

Isn't that the guy you have to beat in order to face Bald Bull?

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterWill

I swear those aholes in hollywood that ruin classics suck. If 60-70% of hollywood died tomorrow of swine flu i wouldnt shed a tear. Hollywood needs new blood anyway

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterInstigator

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