New 'Thing' Flings Into April 2011

The Thing (2011) will strike theaters on April 29, 2011, distributor Universal Pictures announced today. The science-fiction horror thriller is currently the only nationwide release scheduled for that weekend, and it slots into the same timeframe that the Nightmare on Elm Street remake haunted earlier this year.

Described by Universal as a "prelude" to John Carpenter's The Thing (1982), the new Thing involves the discovery of an extraterrestrial organism and ship buried in Antarctica. The main character is a paleontologist played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Final Destination 3), who along with a scientific crew, must fight for survival when the organism is unleashed. The creature will be a shape-shifter that can replicate the humans, stirring paranoia as the characters get infected one-by-one.

The 1982 Thing was far from a smash back in the day, grossing $19.6 million and ranking 42nd for the year, but it has resonated as a horror fan favorite over the years. It was a remake itself of The Thing from Another World, the comparatively light-hearted Howard Hawks production from 1951. Both were based on the story "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell Jr.

The Thing (2011) is being produced by Strike Entertainment, the company behind the Dawn of the Dead remake and Slither. According to IMDb, its screenplay is by Eric Heisserer (A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) and Ronald D. Moore (televisions's Battlestar Galactica remake), while Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. will direct.

The Thing is only the latest John Carpenter movie being revisited. Previous remakes of his movies include The Fog (2005) and Halloween (2007), and a new Escape from New York is in the works.

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