On the list are Guillermo del Toro, Matt Reeves, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Juan Antonio Bayona, J. Blakeson, and Jeff Nichols. Let’s break it down.

Del Toro is currently busy with Pacific Rim, adapting The Strain for television, as well as executive producing Beauty and the Beast for the CW. Matt Reeves is rumored to top the list which would mean no Cloverfield sequel for a good long while. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo had The Crow fall apart and his Highlander remake isn’t on the fast track. Jeff Nichols impressed with Take Shelter, but isn’t as well versed with the special effects needed for a film like this. Same with The Disappearance of Alice Creed’s J. Blakeson. And, finally, Juan Antonio Bayona seems like a sound choice. The Impossible helmer is no stranger to special effects but it’s not like he made a guy dress up like a tidal wave. Those kinds of special effects are a whole other level.

The film currently has a May 2014 release date on the books, which means they need to come to a decision soon, otherwise those monkeys are just going to look silly. (Deadline)

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, director of Intruders and 28 Weeks Later and The Crow rebooter, will direct from a script by Twilight‘s Melissa Rosenberg. The official press release describes the plot as such, “In Highlander, after centuries of dueling to survive against others like him, Connor MacLeod, an immortal Scottish swordsman must confront the last of his kind, a murderously brutal barbarian, who lusts for the Prize.”

Okay. That sounds like Highlander. But what are they going to change unnecessarily? It’s a reboot, right? It needs to include some plot change that will disappoint fans of the original. Given the Twilight connection, we’ll just have to assume mumbling. (Deadline)

The assumption here is that the hauntings are happening during the same timeline, but to total strangers in completely different parts of the world. That’s different enough to grab my attention. These ghosts are getting smarter and smarter everyday. If only Zelda Rubenstein were around to explain all of this to us.

But what other actor in Hollywood could be so totally wrong for the role?

Mark Wahlberg‘s name has come up again. He was originally offered the film but a deal was never put into place. However, if he still has access to the wig he wore in Rock Star, this could be the right fit. Another name being floated out there is Channing Tatum, who could also work in a that-totally-doesn’t-work kind of way. All I know is that the filmmakers only have a handful of chances to screw up this reboot, and casting is the best place to start. That’s why they should take a chance and look into David Hyde Pierce’s availability. (THR)

The project is intended to be a more gritty take than the original 1994 adaptation which was pretty gritty in its own right. Bradley Cooper is set to star as the vengful goth spirit whose soul cannot rest until he avenges his wife’s murder. So I guess this is actually more a gritty reboot of Bradley Cooper‘s image. Can’t imagine him covered in pancake and burning heroin addicts alive, but the threat of having to do Kate Hudson rom-coms does funny things to a man. (Variety)

As this teaser of the Juan Carlos Fresnadillo film Intruders demonstrates, Owen once again plays a concerned dad. But the terror this time around is more of the supernatural variety and not of the sporting a six-pack of Zima variety. It turns out that the girl’s childhood monsters are actually real, and man oh man, do they love loud noises. How’s Clive Owen going to get out of this one? (Empire)

The Crow

Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Days Later) has been chosen by Relativity Media to reboot The Crow.  This is a good film to remake, because a film that comes back from the dead is impervious to harm done by movie critics. According to the press release, the new film will concern Eric Draven, but hopefully it won’t be Draven passing on the crow torch to his crow-loving son or something.

“The original Crow was groundbreaking cinema,” says prodcuer Edward R. Pressman. ”Its gothic visual and musical ideas influenced a generation and cinema itself. With Juan Carlos, we have every confidence that his new Crow will have a similar impact on the contemporary audience.”

People still love Tim Burton movies, right? The kids dig that goth stuff. Plus, as long as nobody dies on set, there should be a lot of gloomy money to be made.