Remaking old TV shows as movies is a tricky proposition. There are a few angles you can take with it, you could make the movie as direct an adaptation as possible. Or you could embrace the camp nature of the source material and make a farce of it.

Both tactics have failed miserably, but so to have they both worked. This spring’s 21 Jump Street is a prime example of a film that works by embracing the absurdity of the original’s sincere premise. Most indications of Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows might have succeeded in a similar fashion, so word of more classic TV adaptations can be met with some optimism these days.

According to Deadline, Universal has gotten behind their next TV to Big Screen adaptation:

Universal Pictures has set David Levien and Brian Koppelman to write The Rockford Files, a feature adaptation of the memorable series that ran on NBC from 1974-80 and featured James Garner as the down-and-out private eye. The studio will develop the film as a star vehicle for Vince Vaughn to play Rockford, and Vaughn and Victoria Vaughn will produce through their Universal-based Wild West Picture Show Productions banner.

Vaughn is a rather obvious choice, but hopefully it means they are going for a more comic approach. I know that will get fans of the original twisted up, but I think a strait forward adaptation of the show wouldn’t really work today. What could work is a Vince Vaughn staring vehicle using the show’s premise and the core of the main character. So long as it is more 21 Jump Street and less Starsky and Hutch we should be fine.

We told you last month that Harry Potter director David Yates was gearing up to make a Doctor Who feature film. At the time there was some ambiguity as to where it would stand in relation to the current, and extremely popular, British series that just finished up it’s sixth season. Yates seemed to suggest that this would be a new incarnation, with no relation to the current Doctor or his television show.

Current show runner Steven Moffat thankfully provides some more information that should be great news to all the Doctor Who fans out there. He recently tweeted:

“To clarify: any Doctor Who movie would be made by the BBC team, star the current TV Doctor and certainly NOT be a Hollywood reboot.”

Leave it to the Grand Moff to assuage fans the world over in a concise 140 characters or less.

Of course this is far from official, there are still several years before this movie hits the screens, and we are still over a year off from a very big 50th anniversary year for the Doctor, which I am assuming will come with it’s ample share of surprises. Still, it is good to know some one deeply involved with the project has his head screwed on strait.

David Yates has been spending the better part of the last seven years directing the final half of one of the most lucrative franchises in the history of cinema. Now that the plucky “boy who lived” is all done with his misadventures at Hogwarts, Yates is looking to bring his new found clout to another of Britian’s fictional Goliaths, Dr. Who.

Variety is reporting that Yates has teamed up with BBC Worldwide Productions to bring the Doctor to the movies.

“We’re looking at writers now. We’re going to spend two to three years to get it right,” [Yates] said. “It needs quite a radical transformation to take it into the bigger arena.”

Dr. Who is the longest running sci-fi television show of all time. Spanning nearly fifty years, this classic show has gone under several major overhauls and is know for it’s ability to re-shuffle itself on the fly. The most incredible thing about the Dr. Who franchise is that flexibility has been worked into the cannon of the show. The Doctor is always the same guy, he just “regenerates” into a new body, personality and all. Neat huh?

Some might say that this summer’s biggest and best animated film was Toy Story 3, but I beg to differ. Dreamwork’s How To Train Your Dragon brought so much to the table and surprised me in so many ways.

It pulled at my heartstrings, made me smile so wide it almost hurt, and just left me satisfied. Plus, it’s about dragons. Dragons are awesome.

While Pixar reigns supreme with their countless Oscars and widespread critical acclaim, I really feel that Dreamworks, with films released this summer like How to Train Your Dragon and Despicable Me, are slowly sneaking up on them. Which is why I was very excited to hear that How To Train Your Dragon will be soaring from the big screen to your television.

According to Ain’t It Cool News, Cartoon Network has decided to turn How to Train Your Dragon into a television show. No word yet on whether or not any of the cast members of the film, which include Jay Baruschel, Gerard Butler, and Jonah Hill, will reprise their roles for the television show, or when the show will even be released.

This is certainly exciting news that the universe of How To Train Your Dragon will continue on, both on television and in a film sequel slated for 2013.

If, like me, you were a fan of the old school animated series Star Blazers then you’ve probably heard they’re making a live action version of the series called Space Battleship Yamato. In fact, if you’re a regular reader of this site, you’ve already seen the first trailer for the movie and got some info about it.

But if you thought that earlier trailer was cool, you ain’t seen nothing yet. This latest one brings everything you would expect from a movie like this including a glimpse of the show’s signature weapon: The Wave Motion Gun. Plus, it’s got all the action, drama, suspense and characters you remember from the anime series all in a pretty impressive package.

As I mentioned previously, the film doesn’t have an official U.S. release date. However, I’m sure it will eventually make its way here so those of us looking forward to it will be able to see it. Or, if by some chance the filmmakers are reading this article, please feel free to send us a copy. We promise to give it a thorough review. Domo Arigato.

Check out the trailer after the jump.

In absentia of our diligent box office reporter Shannon Hood I’m stepping in to bring you up to speed this week. The top three spots were taken by two remakes and one sequel, the former making me feel like I’d gone through a time warp back to the ’80’s.  It was exciting and a little disconcerting all at the same time.

Taking the top spot was the remake of the 1984 classic The Karate Kid.  For the purists out there you can rest easy knowing the producers did not use the same characters from the original.  While the premise is basically the same Daniel Larusso (Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) have been replaced by Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) and Mr. Han (Jackie Chan). Personally, I thought Jaden Smith was too young to portray the character properly but the audience seemed to disagree with me.

The Karate Kidwent onto make $56 million in its opening weekend.  Given that the budget was $40 million this is certainly decent returns and I have no doubt will lead to a sequel, if not a trilogy.  Way to go Jaden!  Your superstar dad, Will Smith, must be very proud.

Last time on The Flickcast Five, we brought you some of our favorite movies based on video games, as we prepped for the release of Disney’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. This time around, we’re switching gears a bit (not much, though) as we ready ourselves for this weekend’s release of The A-Team, of course based on the original TV series from the 70’s. We bring you our favorite films based on TV shows.

Sure, there are some pretty bad adaptations from TV to film, such as Cedric the Entertainer’s Honeymooners, Christopher Lloyd’s My Favorite Martian, Leslie Nielson’s Mr. Magoo, and many more. Though we could go on, we wanted to focus on some of the better adaptations, as we think the upcoming A-Team will be quite entertaining, as a film like that should be.

Join us after the jump as each of the staff picks some of their favorite films based on successful (or not so successful) TV shows. And don’t worry, trekkies, your beloved most definitely makes the list.

When NBC and Universal decided to remake Knight Rider with the voice of Val Kilmer as K.I.T.T., we said OK. When AMC announced that they were doing a remake of The Prisoner in the form of a miniseries with Jim Caviezel, we said OK (not knowing at the time that it would blow). Now, it seems that the fan community needs to put their collective feet down, as Warner Bros. is moving forward with their big-screen reboot of the 1960’s spy series The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

The original, which ran on NBC from 1964-68, introduced the world to Robert Vaughn, who went on to do some pretty amazing things like BASEketball and BBC’s Hustle, and David McCallum, who fell into animated voice-over obscurity went on to co-star in CBS’ NCIS. After years of rewrites and script proposals, Warner seems to have found their writer. From Heat Vision:

Max Borenstein has been tapped to write the latest draft of “Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” Warner Bros.’ big-screen version of the 1960s TV show.

David Dobkin is attached to direct the long-in-development project and will produce with John Davis and Jeff Kleeman.

Inundated by a flurry of commercials blasting the latest nerd boy fantasy, She’s Out of Your League, I’m reminded of another story about an awkward boy and a stunning, but much sharper girl. In this story a nerd manages to sweep the woman of his dreams off her feet, but not without a lot of effort and some spiffy tights.

This betty mischievously quips with her small-town colleague and brazenly flirts with the hottest jock in the universe. This woman is Lois Lane.

The dorky boy gets the girl films are just as abundant as the beautiful, yet clumsy girl who gets her knight in shiny armor tales. They’re just fairytales dressed up for adults with a bunch of sex-talk for the guys and thinly veiled attraction in the form of snippy repartee for the ladies. How do you make two lovers out of enemies? Watch The Bounty Hunter, 10 Things I Hate About You, You‘ve Got Mail, or pretty much any movie with Meg Ryan in it.

Lois and Clark’s relationship is fascinating because it’s a mix of both of these fairytales. Clark is a straight arrow boy scout if there ever was one and Lois doesn’t mind bending the rules at her leisure. They quip constantly on the sidelines, but run plays seamlessly during the big game. Over time these bff’s have flown over their stereotypical scenario to become a team to be reckoned with.

After doing some investigative work, I found Lois was a combination of several women. In turns out Jerry Siegel wishes he had the super powers needed to impress a girl he crushed on in high school, Joe Shuster fell for the model he based Lois‘ look on, and Siegel based Lois’ personality on Torchy Blane, a reporter from 30‘s flicks. Lois might have come out of a nerdy fantasy, but this doll wasn’t just another Top Model.

She’s a Hepburn who gleefully spars with Tracy, Clark, Perry, Jimmy, Lex, or whoever else might be in the bullpen. These creators were ahead of their time in crafting a woman who wasn’t a secretary (cough…Diana Prince…cough) and instead was Clark’s equal in and out of the office.

Lois doesn’t have the benefit of donning a mask when unearthing villainous plots, and yet she’s fearless. She’s not just a love interest, she’s a woman on a mission to bring truth and justice to the world by using the mighty pen.

This week On the Radar George Lucas seeks to capture the minds of even younger viewers, Image Comics takes a shot at Marvel, and one of the most famous music videos of all time may go 3D.  All that and whole bunch of other fun stuff!

Crispin Glover talks Back to the Future controversy

Personally, I didn’t realize Back to the Future was mired in any kind of controversy, but it is.  Speaking at a promotion for Hot Tub Time Machine, Crispin Glover, who played Marty McFly’s (Michael J. Fox) Dad spoke about the raw deal he was dealt after the first film came out:

“On the DVD to the Back to the Future trilogy, Bob Gale has said something that’s totally fabricated,” Glover told a group of reporters at this weekend’s press junket forHot Tub Time Machine. “He said I asked for twice the amount of money that Michael J. Fox asked for in the first film. In the negotiation for the second film, they offered me less than half of what any of the actors that were being asked to come back in the film—Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Tom Wilson. They had all done studio films, and they’d made a lot more money. I was being penalized.”

Interesting stuff.  Mind you, considering the somewhat lackluster opinions of the second and third film maybe Glover got off easy by not being in them.

Jamie Foxx to star in Kane & Lynch video game adaption?

There hasn’t been a lot of talk about the film adaption of video game Kane & Lynch other than it could star Bruce Willis as Kane.  Now, another big name is being tossed around to play opposite Willis, Jamie Foxx.  Developed by IO Interactive Nu Image/Millennium is set to finance with Lionsgate distributing.  While I’m confident in the actors involved, video games are not well known for the best of translations to the big screen.

George Lucas bringing Galactic Heroes to TV

Ask any “real” Star Wars fan and they will probably tell you that The Clone Wars cartoon is pretty childish.  Well, prepared to consider that more mature entertainment.  Looking to draw in even younger viewers to the Star Wars universe, George Lucas is working on a cartoon adaption of the Star Wars: Galactic Heroes toy line.  You know, those chunky figures with a whopping two points of articulation (usually the arms).  Worse yet, this problem means more screen time with the one Star Wars character that can relate best to 3 year olds-Jar Jar Binks.