West Side Story is one of those films that really shouldn’t be remade, but if Steven Spielberg wants to, there’s no stopping him.
Deadline is reporting that Fox has unlocked the movie title West Side Story because Spielberg is interested in remaking the classic film.
This doesn’t mean it will happen for sure; it just makes it a possibility. All Spielberg has done is say that he’s interested, and there hasn’t been a screenwriter assigned to write a script.
However, if Spielberg continues to be interested in directing the remake and a writer does get attached to the project, it will likely get made. Spielberg is one of the few people in Hollywood with the power to do essentially whatever he wants. If he wants to remake West Side Story, he will.
If Spielberg does make West Side Story, it would be the first musical the legendary director has made. He did produce the NBC musical production show Smash, but he produces so many things that it could not be said that he’s ever put his personal stamp on the musical genre. West Side Story would give him the opportunity to do that if he so wishes.
Spielberg currently doesn’t have his next directorial project lined up. He was set to direct the Bradley Cooper starrer American Sniper, but he dropped out last August due to budget issues.
It is believed that Spielberg will direct Robopocalypse at some point, but the film was delayed indefinitely over a year ago. It very well could be his next project, or it could be years down the line. The film will be based on the the 2011 Daniel H. Wilson novel of the same name.