Hollywood takes on remaking classic stories

Just when you thought you graduated from high school, Hollywood has decided to release a slew of movies based on those lovely novels you used to read for AP English Literature, but with an added element of thrill that may just fall flat. Here’s a preview of three spring movies that take youth classics and subverts them into eerie or childishly stilted suspenses.

Atlas Shrugged: Part 1
Coming to theaters Apr. 15

Sure, most of us haven’t touched an Ayn Rand title since 9th or 10th grade, but we think we would remember if Atlas Shrugged was an action packed sci-fi thriller.

Director Paul Johansson of One Tree Hill has decided to tackle the monumental individualist novel with a cast of unknown character actors and a production design mentality of a Saturday afternoon Hallmark Channel made-for-T.V. movie.

Though it will be up to American and international audiences to decide whether or not the film will be successful, the trailer makes the film look like Unstoppable meets The Tourist but with the budget of one episode of a SyFy original series. Who is John Galt? We don’t remember, but we’re sure he probably doesn’t want to see this movie.

Jane Eyre
Coming to select theaters March 11

Mia Wasikowska must be tired of dressing in frills.

With her first breakout cinematic role as Alice in Tim Burton’s reimagining of Alice in Wonderland, Wasikowska once again plays a charming British and bookish girl in director Cary Fukunaga’s rendition of the Charlotte Bronte coming of age story.

With a solid supporting cast, including Judi Dench and Jamie Bell, as well as a trailer that presents the movie version as a gripping dramatic version of the Bible-thick English class standby, this film version might appeal to a wider audience than just Anglophiles.

Red Riding Hood
Coming to theaters March 11

A sordid-looking mashup of an ubiquitous tale designed to warn children about suspicious strangers, Little Red Riding Hood, directed by Twilight-famed Catherine Hardwick, employs the same intrigue of the sexy, seductive and serial killer werewolf. Starring the usually adorable or ditzy Amanda Seyfried (Mean Girls), this bloody teen movie seems like Sleepy Hollow meets Vampire Diaries.