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Big Trouble in Little China with The Rock will be the greatest cinematic experience of all time

Big Trouble in Little China with The Rock will be the greatest cinematic experience of all time

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Here's an empirical truth: everybody loves The Rock. If you're not a fan of wrestling, there's the Fast and Furious movies. If you hate cars; there's San Andreas. If you hate disaster movies, there's his upcoming HBO series Ballers. And if you hate yourself, there's even The Scorpion King. The point is that Dwayne Johnson has managed to turn himself into a likable, nice-guy leading man that can deliver on the action front while also transitioning credibly into comedy without skipping a beat. Which is why I'm very excited about him potentially starring in a remake of John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China.

A perfect fit for an actor that flexed out of an arm cast

The Wrap first broke the news that Johnson is in negotiations to star in a remake of the film, which back in 1986 featured Kurt Russell as a smirking, would-be action hero fighting supernatural forces in San Francisco's Chinatown. The movie was considered a box-office failure at the time, but went on to become a beloved cult classic, and its oddball mixture of martial arts, comedy, and tongue-in-cheek bravado could be a perfect fit for an actor who earlier this year flexed his way out of an arm cast. The new Big Trouble in Little China is being written by the team of Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, who previously worked on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, X-Men: First Class, and the forthcoming Power Rangers movie.

Of course, the downside is that the remake could end up being a disappointing and cynical misfire like so many recent 1980s remakes (RoboCop and Poltergeist, right this way; your table is ready). But with Big Trouble in Little China, you're starting with a property that already has the goofiness and camp turned to 11 — just check out the trailer below — so the two likeliest outcomes are awesome, and more awesome.