THE THING Prequel Begins Filming in March

It has been almost a year since it was announced Universal was moving forward with their proposed sequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 version of THE THING.  At that time, Variety was reporting BATTLESTAR GALACTICA executive producer Ronald Moore was working on the screenplay with commercial director and producer Matthijs Van Heijningen taking a seat in the director’s chair.

Now, it seems, pre-production is finally coming to an close, as Production Weekly announced, via their Twitter feed, that the prequel is set to begin shooting in Toronto this coming March.  Production is expected to run until June.

In March, Moore said his film would be a “companion piece” to Carpenter’s film, and not a full-fledged remake as was previously rumored.

We’re telling the story of the Norwegian camp that found the Thing before the Kurt Russell group did.

While the thought of a sequel, prequel, or remake to Carpenter’s THE THING gives me CG nightmares, I do have some faith in Moore’s talent at expanding on established properties.

Unfortunately, much of what is going to make a THING prequel work is in the execution, particularly the Thing itself.  Much of Van Heijningen’s commercials have been character-driven, but there is one commercial he did for Pepsi Max that features some nice, practical effects featuring an octopus.  Still, time will tell how his talents will transfer over to the feature film world.