Logan's Run remake could lead to Hunger Games-esque franchise

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This week The Hunger Games series concludes with the release of Mockingjay - Part 2 (read our verdict on the film here), but long before the uber successful dystopian franchise was conceived, there was William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson’s 1967 novel Logan's Run. An adaptation made it to the big screen in 1976, and a remake has been in the works for over a decade.

Thanks to X-Men producer and screenwriter Simon Kinberg, it looks like the project is making progress. Speaking with Collider, Kinberg confirmed that the film is a priority for Warner Bros, and that directors are being sought: "It’s something that potentially is their Hunger Games kind of franchise that is about a younger audience for a younger audience with a big idea. And Logan’s Run, as you know, is the granddaddy of Maze Runner and Hunger Games and so many of these books and movies now. So yeah, they’re seeing it as a potentially really big franchise".

"There’s a lot from the original movie", Kinberg continued. "I love the original movie and I think the storytelling in the original movie is pretty wonderful. The set up is great, I think there’s a lot of world creation that’s pretty awesome as well, though ultimately that’ll be the director’s domain. But yeah there’s a lot from the original film in it, and then there’s a lot of - I guess I would call it reinterpretation from the original film rather than just a whole scale recreation".

For fans of the original novel, this is comforting news. The only immediate danger is that it may wind up suffering the same criticism of 2012's John Carter - being too similar to the current crop of films in the genre despite being a precursor to them. However, with The Hunger Games franchise coming to an end, and the Divergent and Maze Runner franchises following in its footsteps, the timing could not be better for another adaptation of Logan's Run.

Amon Warmann
Amon Warmann

Amon is a contributing editor and columnist for Empire magazine, but is also a Film and TV writer for GamesRadar+, Total Film, and others. He has also written for NME, Composer Mag, and more, along with being a film critic for TalkSport. He is also the co-host of the Fade to Black Podcast, and a video mashup creator. Can also do a pretty good Bane impersonation.