Memento Remake Coming: Pi Reboot Undoubtedly To Follow

If anything, the biggest surprise about Christopher Nolan’s 2000 breakout film Memento getting a remake is that it’s going to be a movie. It almost makes sense that someone would want to redo Nolan’s non-linear noir story as a TV series. Almost. In the end, nothing makes sense. The announcement that Memento is being remade leaves you with the eerie feeling that at this point, anything could be remade. It’s hard to imagine anything beyond one of the following two scenarios unfolding for this relentlessly pointless idea:

1. The movie is going to be a disaster. It will immediately and gracelessly join the ranks of such fondly-remembered remakes as the 1998 version of Psycho, or more recently, the remakes of Robocop and Total Recall.

2. Audiences will begrudgingly admit that the movie isn’t bad, but these same audiences will still wonder why a fifteen-year-old movie was being remade at all.

For now, critics and fans of the original are already weighing in. Some have pointed out that a remake could potentially improve on a film that was impressive, but far from perfect. There is also always the appealing opportunity to find a better leading man than Guy Pearce (who recently took to Twitter to indicate a-perhaps sarcastic-desire to play the Sammy character the second time around).

Can I be in the OTNEMEM remake? I want to play Sammy this time……. pic.twitter.com/QXXflS9ZEX

— Guy Pearce (@TheGuyPearce) November 18, 2015

I wonder why they'd do a remake anyway? I mean we all know how it starts…..

— Guy Pearce (@TheGuyPearce) November 18, 2015

However, others are pointing to some of the more obvious questions and thoughts. Many argue that fifteen years is not a significant enough length of time to warrant a remake. These same arguments also include thoughts suggesting that given the unique style and impressive attention to detail-heavy storytelling that were hallmarks of the 2000 original, any efforts to improve upon those things are going to be met with a level of failure that will eventually become legendary. Others still are using this latest remake use to make a case for the ongoing opinion that originality is dead in Hollywood. When you consider that AMBI, the company that purchased the rights to Memento, also purchased the rights to Donnie Darko and Cruel Intentions, it’s hard to argue with that assessment.

For now, absolutely nothing is known about the Memento reboot. Nothing in the way of a shooting schedule or casting has been announced. Speculation is rampant on whether a remake would set itself in the present (which would make certain elements of the 2000 film obsolete), or if it would function as a period piece. Representatives for Nolan have made it abundantly clear that Nolan will not be involved in the project in any form or fashion.