Soon after Troll Hunter hit American theaters back in 2011, it was set upon by Hollywood producers looking to translate André Øvredal’s found-footage fantasy into something that even Americans who refuse to read subtitles could appreciate. (At the time, remake producer Chris Columbus said, “visually, there are scenes in this film that American audiences have never seen”—unless, of course, they had seen the original.) But now, five years later, it looks the the integrity of Øvredal‘s film will remain intact, as the director tells Birth.Movies.Death that the planned American remake is deader than a hiker frozen solid after wandering off into the Norwegian tundra.
The remake “is not going anymore,” Øvredal says, adding that the rights to the film have reverted to him and his producers and that “I don’t think they will be pursuing another remake.” The Troll Hunter remake was supposed to have been directed by Neil Marshall of The Descent and Game Of Thrones fame; it may have been the latter that killed the project, as Øvredal tells Birth.Movies.Death, “I believe that just after signing up for Troll Hunter, Neil got too busy with Game Of Thrones, and that’s what stopped it; that seems to be the case, anyway, and then it just kind of died.” Whether this would have been a We Are What We Are or a The Eye situation will forever remain a mystery.