Since its financial difficulties, MGM has concentrated on putting together remakes and sequels to properties it already owns, and it’s continuing that run, as Variety reports that Tom Cruise is attached to MGM’s remake of The Magnificent Seven. The actor has apparently been interested in the project for quite some time, but don’t expect it to hit theaters anytime soon.
The studio does not have a director in place yet, although insiders claim they are quietly searching for a screenwriter. The remake is still years away from happening, but the actor’s involvement may attract filmmakers or other cast members to the project.
1960’s The Magnificent Seven was directed by John Sturges, and was a Western remake of Akira Kurosawa’s seminal classic Seven Samurai. The story centres on seven gunmen (Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn, Brad Dexter, and Horst Buchholz), who are hired by Mexican villagers to protect their land from the villainous Calvera (Eli Wallach).
It spawned the sequels Return of the Magnificent Seven in 1966, Guns of the Magnificent Seven in 1969, and The Magnificent Seven Ride! in 1972, along with a short-lived The Magnificent Seven TV series in 1998.