Posted 11.24.09 by reelz 
It's been months since there was any real news about the planned reboot of the 1956 sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet. Last we heard that a script idea, which looked to be pretty cool and original, had been scuttled by Internet leaks. Now screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski has started talking about the status of the project again, offering up a few details about the direction it will be taking.
The original, inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest, centered on an expedition to discover what had become of a colony ship mysteriously lost decades before. When they land, romantic tensions over a scientist's beautiful young daughter famously erupt into technologically enhanced "monsters from the id." While remaining faithful to the original idea, JMS told SCI FI Wire he plans to expand the horizon of the story a bit.
We've actually decided to show more of the first ship when it first arrived 20 years earlier to sort of counterpoint what's happening in the present story. If you're a fan of the original, as I am, and have always been, I think it's very faithful to that.... There's a little more action, but it's still a strong character piece, because it's based on The Tempest and the idea of a father whose daughter is being courted by, in the original play, sailors that are washed up on shore. You need to have that dynamic still in place to respect the original and the source material. So there's a fair amount of talking, but there's some really cool action pieces in it as well.
What they have seen so far apparently has studio executives pretty excited. They are already talking about the possibility of sequels.
Warner is very excited about it, thinks it's a big franchise for them and a huge budget, so they're very much oriented toward getting it done.
No word yet on who will be directing. There was a rumor a while back that James Cameron might be interested, but nothing new on that front so far.