Colossus: Great Science-Fiction Story Gets a Film Revival

Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) was the ultimate Sci-Fi movie that spawned many robot/computer take-over films such as The Terminator. Universal and Imagine Entertainment have recently confirmed that they will be doing a remake of the epic film, which will be titled Colossus.

The original apocalyptic movie, based on the 1966 novel Colossus by Dennis Feltham Jones, tells the story of a supercomputer that takes over the world. Embedded deep within an impenetrable Colorado mountain, Colossus is designed to operate America’s missile defenses during the Cold War. But the computer’s intelligence expands alarmingly, and it quickly detects a kindred super computer system minding the missiles in Russia called "Guardian."

Colossus and its Soviet counterpart communicate in secret code. The two supercomputers successfully merge, against their creator’s best efforts. Now in control of vast arsenals of nuclear weapons the supercomputer violently forces mankind to live subject to its cryptic version of world “peace”. With the fate of the human race in jeopardy, a desperate planet turns to the only person with a chance of outwitting the machines: Colossus’ creator, Dr. Forbin.

The original film was not considered a commercial success even though it was well respected by science fiction fans and critics alike. With all of the incredible advancements in the field of artificial intelligence since the early 70’s, the plot will likely have a more believable ring to it this time around. Ron Howard is likely to be the director of the remake. Fans of the iconic movie hope the remake retains at least one dark line from the original. “Obey me and live or disobey and die.”

Posted by Rebecca Sato with Casey Kazan