Gearing Up for a 'Death Race' Prequel

As guilty pleasures go, I enjoyed last year's Death Race. While not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, it had some great scenes for Joan Allen, the action was quite good, and the story was simple enough to not get in the way of everything else we paid to see. As I said then, "If you want a pineapple upside-down cake and what you order tastes like a pineapple upside-down cake, then you can’t really complain, right?" It didn't make a ton of money but it didn't cost a whopping sum, either, so it's only marginally surprising that Paul W.S. Anderson is revving up a prequel. The pitch: Let's explore the past of the intimidating driver known as Frankenstein. Now, in the new version, there had been several guys wearing the iron mask before Jason Statham, kind of like the Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride. I would suspect this would develop the story of the original Frankenstein, who had been in so many accidents, according to the legend, that he wore a mask to hide his gruesome face. Shock Till You Drop says Anderson's collaborator on the new Resident Evil: Afterlife, Tony Giglio, will write the script and he may even direct the prequel. Theatrical release? It's probably too early to tell, but if it comes in cheap (and they won't have Jason Statham to pay), then it could be financially feasible to throw this one on the big screen. But Anderson all but admitted to me last year that his business model is so driven by DVD sales and rentals that the theatrical receipts aren't the most important thing to him, so maybe he goes the home video route here just to see if it takes.