LOS ANGELES, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- The Sci Fi Channel will produce four-hour remakes of "The Andromeda Strain" and "The Thing," Daily Variety said Tuesday.
The paper said the cable channel has signed Oscar-nominated director Ridley Scott ("Thelma & Louise," "Gladiator") to executive produce the remake of "The Andromeda Strain," the 1971 thriller based on Michael Crichton's novel about the race to contain a deadly new alien virus before it can spread.
Darabont -- the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile" -- will oversee production on the four-hour TV movie of "The Thing." Based on John W. Campbell's short story about an alien shape shifter that assumes the appearance of its prey before it kills, the story was originally made in 1951 as "The Thing from Another World," and then remade in 1982 by John Carpenter.
Sci Fi previously announced Steven Spielberg would produce "Nine Lives" for TV, Martin Scorsese would produce "The Twelve," and "Aliens" producer Gale Anne Hurd would make a TV movie called "Red Mars." Also on board for future Sci Fi channel projects are Nicolas Cage ("Dresden Files") and Bryan Singer and Dean Devlin ("The Triangle").
