Last we heard, just over a year ago, the English-language remake of The Raid was still a going concern. Screen Gems were behind it, The Expendables 3's Patrick Hughes was directing, and Taylor Kitsch and Frank Grillo were in talks to star. This morning, however, it's less Iko Uwais and more Pete Tong, since both Hughes and Screen Gems have abandoned the project. Only production company XYZ Films remains attached.
The Tracking Board's sources don't quite address exactly what's caused this collapse. They speculate that continual delays have forced the Aussie Hughes to move on to a more going concern, that of Sydney-To-Hobart Yacht Race disaster drama The Storm Warning - but quite what chilled the collective feet of Screen Gems remains to be seen.
Brad Ingelsby (Out Of The Furnace, Run All Night) and Eric and John Hueber (Red) have all contributed to multiple drafts of the screenplay, as has original Raid director Gareth Evans, who still seems to be attached to the remake as an executive producer.
The thrust of the proposed new version is still bit of a mystery, beyond that it will take the basic premise of the original – a mobster and his violent thugs lay a trap for a SWAT team inside a high-rise building, a trap they must fight their way out of – and transplant it to the US. Kitsch would have been one of the main SWAT officers. Grillo, we're guessing, would have had something like the Joe Taslim role.
Lone producers XYZ are now looking for a new action-happy director and, presumably, a new studio. So they're optimistic that the project isn't dead yet, at least.