Pirates director to remake The Host (Gwoemul)

Looks like Gore Verbinski, who helmed The Ring and the Pirates of the Caribbean threesome, will be remaking another Asian film – this time a Korean monster movie that broke box office records in that country, and has developed sort of a cult following elsewhere. Universal and Verbinski have nabbed remake rights to the 2006 Joon-ho Bong Korean monster thriller The Host, with Fredrik Bond attached to make his feature film directing debut, according to Variety. Verbinski is set to produce the new film, along with Roy Lee, Doug Davison and Paul Brooks. Bond has directed commercial campaigns for Nike, Adidas and Levi’s.

The original follows the story of a town being terrorized by a giant mutant squid-like creature hatched by toxins flowing into a nearby river from a military base. When the creature grabs a little girl, her dysfunctional family must band together to rescue her. The film’s anti-pollution theme was clearly a “what if” warning for the world.

Film Fetish Trivia: Gore Verbinski is also working on an adaptation of the video game Bioshock, which he intends to direct, as well as a series of animated shorts, that will be inspired by the 1981 cult film Heavy Metal. Verbinski, along with David Fincher and Zack Snyder, have signed on to direct segments of the project.

He’s also developing an animated action-adventure film called Rango, which follows a household pet that goes on an adventure to discover its true self.

Check out the trailer for the original The Host below.